Ed Striffler, a 53-year-old father, used a chance encounter on a flight from Denver to Phoenix on November 4, 2021, to play matchmaker for his daughter, Bec Striffler. He met Kevin Perreault, 25, who was wearing a shirt indicating he was a member of the Design-Build Institute of America, Arizona State University Chapter. Realizing they had both attended the same construction conference, Ed struck up a conversation and discovered Perreault was an alumnus of the same construction program at Arizona State University as himself, and even worked for a company building one of Ed's projects.
Ed, excited by the connections, showed Perreault photos of his daughter, Bec, who was also studying at Arizona State University. After a two-hour uninterrupted conversation, Ed took a photo of Perreault and sent it to his boss, and later texted Bec's boss for Kevin's last name after Bec expressed interest. Bec then found Perreault on Instagram, and he later asked her out directly, having already learned much about her from her father.
The relationship blossomed quickly; they made it official in December 2021. Three and a half years later, on July 15, Perreault proposed to Bec at Gillette Stadium during a Coldplay concert. The engagement ring is uniquely engraved with the date of the fateful flight, 11/4/2021, and their flight number, AA1309. Bec and Perreault, both working in construction, are now planning their wedding for 2026, highlighting a successful, traditional-adjacent approach to finding love outside of typical dating apps.
