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DRAPER -- The families of a couple killed in a Christmas Day tragedy are sharing their love story.
Micah Huggard, 26, of American Fork, and his fiancé, 27-year-old Kyoung-Hee Kim, died the evening of Dec. 25 when the Jeep they were riding in went off a 400-foot embankment in the Corner Canyon area of Draper. The couple had become engaged just the day before the accident.
In a love letter written by Kim to her new fiancée, Kim said, "My dear love, I can't believe it has already been a year since we've met. My love for you is growing up every day… Thank you for being my love. I hope I can wake up with you every day."
The letter was given and received the day the couple died. Kim, a Korean exchange student, had been accepted to BYU's Marriott School of Business and planned to get her CPA.
Huggard already owned a small business with his brother and was going back to school to become a mechanic.
My dear love, I can't believe it has already been a year since we've met. My love for you is growing up every day… Thank you for being my love. I hope I can wake up with you every day.
–Letter written by Kyoung-Hee Kim to her fiance Micah Huggard
The couple met Christmas Eve of 2009, wrapping presents at Huggard's brother's house. Their families say they clicked right away.
"I could see the eyes glancing and the smiles being exchanged right away and I knew it was going to go somewhere," said Joley Huggard, Micah's sister-in-law.
The two quickly became close, spending Sunday dinners with Huggard's family, meeting each other's friends and going for drives on the East Bench hills. This Christmas Eve, Huggard took Kim for another drive and proposed.
"He proposed to her in the front seat and she said, ‘You need to get on your knees' so they got out of the car and he did it correctly," Joley Huggard said.
A day later, Huggard surprised Kim with her own car -- a Jeep they immediately took for a drive. They returned for Christmas dinner and decided to go out one more time. Two days later, rescue crews found their bodies.
They'll have a shared viewing and funeral before Kim's body is returned to Korea to be buried next to her father. The Huggards are attempting to raise money to cover the fast-growing expenses required.
"Because Micah would have done it," said Joley Huggard.
A tender last act of kindness for a couple whose time was cut short. The family has set up an account at any Wells Fargo Bank under the name "Huggard/Kim Christmas Day Memorial Fund."
Already, generous businesses have provided flowers for the funeral and a wedding dress for Kim to be buried in.
E-mail: sdallof@ksl.com
