A real ‘Hallmark’ story

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It is a love story that like many started at the Highland County Fair. There was a gap of about 17 years, lots of odd twists and turns in between, then a fairy tale ending that saw the former Ashley Cowgill and Seth Oglesby get married this fall.

It started when they were teenagers at the fair and Ashley was about 16.

“We had a little crush, went to one Hillsboro dance together, then parted ways,” Ashley said.

A 2003 McClain High School graduate, Ashley went to college at Ohio University in Athens. A 2004 Hillsboro High School graduate, Seth landed at Ohio State University in Columbus before moving to Colorado.

Over the course of years they were friends on Facebook, but had not seen each other in person since high school.

Then the course of events that led to their marriage started a little over a year ago when Ashley, by then a Columbus resident, was hanging out with some friends at Big Ernie’s Pizza in Hillsboro.

“We were reminiscing about the fair and things, and someone mentioned his name,” Ashley said.

Before long they made contact. A couple months later when they were both home for Christmas, they met at Momma’s West Main Street Cafe in Hillsboro to catch up.

“We were the only ones in the coffee shop and we talked for a couple hours, like about what we had been going for the last 17 years,” Ashley said. “For me personally, it felt like an answered prayer, a sign from God that this is it.”

Some of the experiences they had both shared were surreal, Ashley said, and kind of crazy.

For instance, when she was in college at OU, Seth visited Athens to see his best friend. As it turned out, Seth’s best friend was dating a friend who was friends with Ashley’s college roommate. Seth and his friends were even in Ashley’s house the during Seth’s visit to Athens. But Ashley was gone that weekend.

After Ashley graduated from OU, she moved to Columbus, where Seth was also living. But for whatever reason, their paths never crossed, and Seth moved to Colorado.

In the fall of 2019, Ashley visited Colorado, but Seth’s location was four hours away, and again the stars did not align.

“I said, “Oh no, this is insane because it’s like the third time he popped into my life,’” Ashley said.

After the visit at Momma’s, Seth went back to Colorado where he was working as a camp director at a science school. The two ended up talking a couple times around New Year’s, Ashley said things kind of clicked, and they visited each other a couple times.

It was around that time that Seth mentioned that about a year earlier he had found a picture packed among his things of himself and Ashley at a Hillsboro/McClain football game in Hillsboro when Ashley was a senior. She said they ran into each other at the game and decided to have someone take their picture.

If things were not crazy enough, the COVID-19 pandemic struck and Seth was asked in April to resign from his job a few months before he planned to move on because it was likely the camp would be shut down due to the virus. So Ashley flew out to Colorado in April and they drove back to Ohio together.

“For us, 2020 has been an amazing year and if not for the shutdown he wouldn’t have been moving back so soon,” Ashley said.

Somewhere along the line Ashley found her high school journal. It contained words she had wrote about Seth on Sept. 9, 2001. So 19 years later, they decided to get married on Sept. 9, 2020. The wedding was held at the Falls Creek Friends Church.

While 2020 has been a year most would rather forget, Ashley said that for her it has been like a dream.

“It was everything I’d been waiting for. I have no complaints for the year,” Ashley said. “I have a lot of faith in God, so it was just kind of like he knew already.”

Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522.

The former Ashley Cowgill and Seth Oglesby are pictured on their wedding day on Sept. 9 this year at the Fall Creek Friends Church.
https://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2020/12/web1_Oglesby-pic-1.jpgThe former Ashley Cowgill and Seth Oglesby are pictured on their wedding day on Sept. 9 this year at the Fall Creek Friends Church. Submitted photo
Hillsboro, McClain grads reconnect, marry 17 years later

By Jeff Gilliland

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