CROTHERSVILLE, In. -- A high school student in Indiana who wasn't going to the prom because he didn't have a date, got to escort a woman who is simply unforgettable: his great-grandmother.
"Well, he's my grandson. My great-grandson. He's my son's grandson," said Katie Keith.
Keith said that when she went to her prom in 1940 the dance was a waltz and the dress was much less elaborate.
"Nobody had formals, you know we all just went in our going-to-church dresses is what we had," Keith explained.
So when Keith asked her great-grandson, Drew, if he was going to his prom at Crothersville Junior-Senior High, she was surprised by the answer.
"She asked me if I was going to prom and I said, 'No,'" Drew Holm explained.
But when the great-grandmother learned that her grandson did not have a date and was planning to skip the event, she took action.
"I said, 'Well I've got a dress, I'll go with ya," Keith said. "I was just joking, you know, never thought a thing about it."
Drew took her at her word and then decided to formally ask his great-grandmother to the formal.
"He said, 'Will you go to prom with me?' I said, 'Well, Drew, my goodness,'" she laughed.
"She was like, 'Go find someone prettier," Drew said.
Keith tried to reassure her great-grandson to find someone his own age.
"I don't want to go to the prom with you, surely you can find a real cute girl to go with you," his great-grandmother said.
"I was like, 'Nah, I can't do that, you're the prettiest woman,'" Drew said.
So thanks to a special exception from school administrators -- and a formal invitation delivered to her house -- Keith relented.
"That kid wants me to go that bad, I'll go, the heck with it," Katie laughed.
So when Friday arrived, Drew showed up with a corsage in hand and took the 93-year-old to the high school dance.
"Well everybody got up you know and they was doing this shuffle thing and Drew said to me, 'Let's dance grandma, will you dance," said Katie Keith. "I said, 'Sure.' So him and I got out there and shuffled right along with them."
Since news of Drew’s date has spread, he has heard from a number of people who are impressed with the young man and his show of respect.
But it was never really about that. It was about a grandson and his great grandmother, the bond they share and a date that will be hard to top when senior prom comes along.
"Maybe, if she's still there, I'll probably take her again," Drew said.
