Chris Suddoth and Maddox Hargett plan to tie the knot, in-person, later this year
Chris Suddoth knew when she fell in love with Maddox Hargett that her life was never going to be normal again.
She knew that Maddox was going to join the Army, and she would likely go weeks without seeing him in person while he was in basic training. She committed herself to the notion that he could be deployed overseas after they are married.
But she had not prepared herself for 2020, a year which has seen even the craziest of worlds turned upside down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite all the delays, and the fact that the two have not seen each other in person since May 4 – and likely won’t see each other again until late December – Chris and Maddox are engaged, and they are planning a small but overdue December wedding.
The two have known each other for most of their lives, even though they attended rival high schools, Chris a Washington School graduate and Maddox an Indianola Academy alum.
“(We) had always had a crush on each other in middle school and high school, and we kind of went to rival high schools, and we were a little bit shy to interact with one another,” Chris told The E-T during an interview this week.
The two even attended rival colleges at one point, with Chris starting at Ole Miss and Maddox at Mississippi State, but everything about their relationship changed when Chris transferred to Mississippi State during her sophomore year.
“He and I started dating, and it immediately became pretty serious,” Chris said.
Maddox made no secret that he was in love with Chris, but he also didn’t mince words about his intentions of joining the Army when he completed his Interdisciplinary Studies degree at MSU.
“He was up front with me about that,” Chris said.
Just as planned, and about two months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Maddox left for basic training in early May.
He had told his parents back in March that he was buying an engagement ring, and the original plan was for him to pop the question, in-person, during the traditional family weekend in July after basic training was over.
Instead of going straight to basic training, however, Maddox was quarantined for two months.
He did not head off to basic until July.
Family weekend kept getting pushed back until it landed on the weekend of September 11.
As the nation dealt with a surge from the coronavirus, the Army canceled family weekend, and Chris and Maddox’s family were informed that basic training graduation would be live-streamed instead of in-person.
Chris said that most of her communication with her fiancé has been through letters, although he has been able to Facetime more lately.
Maddox did not want to put off his engagement to Chris any longer.
He decided that he was going to propose via Facetime.
“He described to me in detailed letters exactly how he wanted everything setup,” said Leigh Hargett, Maddox’s mother. “I did everything exactly as he said.”
The stage was set for the proposal on September 12.
“I kind of knew something might be up, because his parents told me we were going out to eat and to get all dressed up,” Chris said. “My favorite color is purple, and he had all these lavender roses and everything that I like. He proposed. It was still amazing, and it was still everything I could have wished for, just because I know that I want to be with him forever, and I know that he wants to be with me forever.”
With the engagement solidified, Chris will continue graduate courses this fall.
She is pursuing a masters degree in Community College Education & Leadership. That will occupy her time until she can finally see Maddox during his holiday block leave in December, where he has promised to put the ring on her finger himself.
The couple also plan to marry that week in a small ceremony that will be immediate family only.
They plan to exchange vows at the beach and enjoy a shortened honeymoon before Maddox has to return to base at Fort Benning in Georgia.
Chris said the one positive that has come from COVID-19 is that Maddox has accrued a lot of leave, and they will use that for a longer and more extravagant honeymoon when things return to normal.
Chris is the daughter of Jack and Felicia Suddoth.
Maddox is the son of Alan and Leigh Hargett of Indianola.
