From left, Ashley Mertlich, Candice Douglas, Chelley Budge, Jenny Cook, Harry Heap, Janice Heap, Barbara Lundberg, Sara Douglas, and Amanda Christian are seen at a dance held in the honor of Janice Heap, who never attended prom in high school, on Feb. 11 in Providence.
Janice Heap and her husband, Harry Heap, attended a second-chance prom held in Heap’s honor on Feb. 11 in Providence.
From left, Ashley Mertlich, Candice Douglas, Chelley Budge, Jenny Cook, Harry Heap, Janice Heap, Barbara Lundberg, Sara Douglas, and Amanda Christian are seen at a dance held in the honor of Janice Heap, who never attended prom in high school, on Feb. 11 in Providence.
Janice Heap was crowned at a second chance prom held in her honor by friends on Feb. 11.
Not everyone gets a chance to attend prom while in high school. For one Logan woman, that memory has come 46 years later.
This past Saturday, prettied up in a dress and with her beau at her side, Janice Heap attended the “Starry Night Second Chance Prom” at a church in Providence.
The event was specially organized for Heap by a group of about seven women she has come to know in a fitness class she regularly attends.
Sara Douglas, one of the organizers, explained that one day after the REFIT class, Heap, now 64, started talking about how she didn’t attend prom in high school.
“I told them one of the things on my bucket list was to dress up really nice, ride in a limousine, and go to a dance with my husband,” Heap told The Herald Journal on Monday. “I just mentioned that and didn’t think anything about it afterward.”
After hearing her story and big-dance wishes, and knowing she has a sweet man in her life now, Douglas said, she and the other ladies in the group knew they had to help make Heap’s dream come true.
“Even though she’s been through a lot in life, she’s very optimistic and kind,” Douglas said. “We said we had to make this happen for her.”
Douglas contacted Heap’s husband, Harry Heap, and with his blessing organized the event.
By the time their anniversary rolled around in January, Harry approached his wife and invited her to the dance.
“I was excited because we met at a single’s dance and hadn’t been to a dance since COVID,” Heap said. She asked what dance he wanted to take her to, and that’s when Harry mentioned that her friends were putting on a dance in her honor.
In preparation for her long-lost prom, Heap found a dress and waited for Feb. 11 to arrive. When it did, she was once more surprised to find a limousine outside waiting for them.
As the stars came out, Harry led his date to the dance floor and danced the night away, making one of Heap’s dreams come true.
They even were crowned Prom King and Queen and danced to one of their favorite songs, “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri and remembered in the movie Twilight.
“It was a smashing success,” Douglas said. “So much fun!”
She said about 120 people attended the evening dance.
Heap called it “amazing” and “wonderful.”
“I felt so loved,” she said. “I’ve gone through some really hard troubles in my life. I’ve been married three times before … and so there have been some struggles. And I thought it was just amazing that I had friends who cared and loved me so much to do this for me.”
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