As Valentine’s Day approached, Roberto Quiles proposed to the love of his life, presenting Callie Doran with both a ring and a new narrative on a painful high school experience.

“She’s my heart,” Quiles said after surprising Doran with the proposal in the gymnasium of Evergreen Park Community High School. “When she’s not around, I miss her. I miss her even when she’s driving to work. I cannot wait until the end of the day to see her.”

Quiles bought the engagement ring in June of 2020 but every time he considered a way to present it, the pandemic’s unpredictability quashed it. He originally wanted to propose in Puerto Rico but travel has been precarious over the past two years.

In the end, it was COVID-19 that forced the issue.

“We both had it over Christmas,” Quiles said. “I thought then, ‘There’s no time like the present.’

“I’m tired of calling her my girlfriend. She needs to be my wife.”

Quiles, 48, and Doran, 38, now live in Milwaukee. With the help of her parents, Steven and Marguerite Doran, as well as his children and her sister, Quiles was able to lure Doran to EPCHS under the guise of another celebration.

He told her one of the guys he worked for at Anodyne LLC was holding an engagement party at the high school.

She immediately wanted to attend because it sounded fun and the trip would enable her to visit family who now live in Homewood.

Doran said she became suspicious as soon as she opened the gymnasium doors and heard one of her favorite songs, “Dreams” by The Cranberries, and spied a banner that read, “Prom Night.”

Then her parents and her sister, Shannon and her husband Tim Prendergast, suddenly appeared. His son, Cameron Quiles and his daughter, Marleisa Quiles Espinoza, also walked in.

Espinoza held up cards alluding to a proposal that ended with instructions for her to turn around. When she did, Quiles was on one knee.

“I immediately said, ‘Yes.’ No hesitation,” Doran said. “I’ve been with him so long. This was a dream come true. It was so beautiful.”

Quiles and Doran met in 2007 when both were working for a Milwaukee liquor distributor. He was a driver; she worked in the office.

In a quest to stand out from the other drivers, Quiles said he would get cologne samples from Macy’s and “season” his paperwork.

“I would get a whiff of cologne and put the paperwork up to my nose,” Doran recalled. “It was nice. I would try to finish it up quickly so I could call him back in to sign it.”

Doran, who now works for Industries for the Blind and Visually Impaired, graduated EPCHS in 2002, taking with her a tearful prom night experience that would occasionally rear its ugly head.

Because prom closes out the high school experience for many teens, Quiles said he wanted reframe that narrative.

With the help of Evergreen Park administrators, family and some decorations he found online, he was able to supplant a bad memory with something joyful.

“Now, when I think of prom, I’ll think of this,” Doran said.

The couple has yet to set a date but Quiles said they’re considering a destination wedding.

“I want to walk under arches of trees,” Doran said.

Donna Vickroy is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.