VALDOSTA — Two and a half years ago, The Times asked readers if they knew the identities of a man who proposed to a woman in Bennie’s Alley downtown.

We never received a response until recently and, to our surprise, the young woman was right under our noses.

The couple is Cameron and Brittany McClure. He is a Valdosta police officer. She is a reporter with The Valdosta Daily Times. As the shared last name suggests, she said “yes” when

 Cameron popped the question in August 2009. Though it took her a few minutes.

“We were already walking out of the alley when she said, ‘If I didn’t say yes already, the answer is yes,’ ” Cameron says.

As they walked out of Bennie’s Alley on that sunny Sunday afternoon, they had no idea that the proposal had been captured on downtown business ClientTell’s security cameras. At a later date, ClientTell personnel noticed the proposal on their video and shared a still image from the recording with The Times.

Managing Editor Kay Harris published the photo in her Sept. 20, 2009 Business This Week column.

“In the video, according to ClientTell Vice President Chris Williams, the man gets down one knee and you see the woman’s look of surprise and then begin to cry and laugh, etc., all at the same time,” Harris wrote in her column.

Though the article and photo generated interest, no one came forward to identify the couple.

Meanwhile, Cameron McClure and Brittany Denney knew nothing about the column. They were too busy preparing for their wedding.

They met as Valdosta State University students.

From the Chicago area, Cameron moved to Georgia in 2005 and Valdosta in 2006. At VSU, he studied criminal justice; since middle school, he had dreamed of becoming a police officer.

An Army daughter, Brittany lived in several locations before her family settled in Georgia and she enrolled at VSU.

In meeting, they shared an algebra class. She sat in front of him. They spoke only once until Cameron overheard Brittany tell the teacher she needed additional help in the subject.

Cameron volunteered to tutor her. One problem: He had no idea how to be an algebra tutor. He wanted to get to know Brittany. “He was a horrible tutor,” Brittany says. “I had to drop the class.”

While algebra may not have been their strongest subject, they were developing a certain chemistry ... slowly. She viewed him initially as a friend but, over time, her feelings changed.

By the time of the proposal, Cameron knew Brittany well. He even knew the specific type of engagement ring she had desired since childhood — a one-carat, princess-cut, white-gold solitaire in a tiffany setting. Still a university student, working at Best Buy, Cameron saved enough money for a down payment on this ring. He hid it from her in one of his slippers, knowing she would never look there.

Prior to proposing, he asked Brittany’s parents for permission. They gladly said yes.

They had been dating for about three years, and they had discussed marriage. They were planning a trip to visit his family in the Chicago area. She expected him to propose in a romantic setting along the Great Lakes.

Instead, he proposed in an alley. Ever since, whenever they share the story, people ask why he proposed in an alley. The answer: She liked Downtown Valdosta. She enjoyed taking photographs there. She didn’t expect him to propose there. Besides, Bennie’s Alley is a beautiful alley.

“I thought he was bending down to tie his shoe,” Brittany says, remembering when Cameron knelt to propose.

They graduated VSU. Cameron joined the Valdosta Police Department in June 2010. They married Sept. 25, 2010, the day after the fourth anniversary since they began dating. She took a job with The Times, first in advertising, then in news last year.

How would anyone at The Times ever link blonde-haired Brittany McClure with the brown-haired woman in the photograph? Especially since she’s seen mostly from behind, with her hands covering her face. For a brief time, Brittany’s hair had been dyed a darker color.

But Cameron’s face was easy to see, and the sharp eyes of a police detective recognized him.

Last week, a Valdosta police investigator was reviewing surveillance video at ClientTell. During the visit, the investigator was shown the proposal video. He had been told no one had ever identified the couple. The investigator recognized the young man immediately as Officer McClure.

So, a mystery is solved and the McClures received a nice post-wedding gift of a video and an old newspaper article of their proposal.

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