For years, people who have attended LaRussell’s annual Thanksgiving Lighting of the Pump Parade have told organizer Linda Heman that the parade looked to them like a Hallmark movie.
She usually responded that all it lacked was romance, but she said that’s changed after the14th Annual Lighting of the Pump Parade on Nov. 28 when a Carthage man proposed to his girlfriend right after the parade and next to the Glowing pump.
As the fireworks exploded down the street after the parade, Zac Babcock got down on one knee and held up the tiny box containing the engagement ring before Madeline Marsden her sister Mariah Marsden, and parents Chip and Catherine Marsden and proposed marriage to Madeline.
“Three years ago is when we started dating and one of the first major things we did as a couple together was come to the Lighting of the Pump,” Zac Babcock said. “So I thought what could be a more special way to do it than right here.”
It was a joyful moment for the Marsden family that had seen tragedy just one month before when a grassfire fed by bone-dry grass and high winds charred several acres northwest of LaRussell and destroyed the home where Chip and Catherine Marsden still live and where Madeline and Mariah Marsden grew up.
“We live on the hill north of LaRussell, the drought was at its peak and the winds were heavy and it was the day before Halloween and a grass fire got started,” Catherine Marsden said. “I’m not exactly sure when it got started. I was outside at noon and I let the dog out at 1:30 and smoke was billowing out from under the front porch.”
A number of area fire departments, including Sarcoxie, Avilla and others came together to battle the fire.
Chip Marsden was at work but Catherine Marsden got the family pets out of the house and escaped with their lives. But the home was a total loss.
Catherine Marsden said help started coming in almost immediately as news of the loss started spreading on social media.
“The community really came together,” Catherine Marsden said. “A friend of ours got us a camper so we’re on a camping adventure right now. We are rebuilding ourselves slowly and we’ll be on a camping adventure until we rebuild.”
Catherine Marsden said watching Babcock propose to their daughter right after a parade that has been a family tradition since it started in 2010 was a joyful event on a cold holiday evening.
“That was very exciting,” Catherine Marsden said. “We love Zac and we’re very excited that they’re engaged and there they are now with Santa. We come every year to this parade and now it’s even more special.”
Madeline Marsden said growing up near LaRussell she knew it was a close-knit little town, but she and her family spent more time in Carthage where her mother worked and she and her sister attended school.
“As an adult I can appreciate this small community and the love they have for their community is great,” Madeline Marsden said. “It’s very special, the hometown feel of everything. We plan to live out there eventually and build so it’s our family farm.”
Babcock said everything worked out like he hoped and he’s looking forward to making LaRussell his home.
“With the tragedy her mom and dad had, the love and outpouring from this community has been amazing,” Babcock said. “It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing to see the support they have for one another. I don’t think I could have proposed at a better place or time.”
