Girl Steals Hearts After Asking Grandpa to Daddy-Daughter Dance Because Her Dad 'Is Not Going to Go'

By Amanda Thomason February 15, 2023 at 1:46pm

This year, 5-year-old Austyn Woolverton of Papillion, Nebraska, was very much looking forward to a special Valentine’s dance. The annual daddy-daughter dance, hosted by the Papillion Landing community recreation center, would be held Feb. 8.

The only problem was that little Austyn wouldn’t be able to go with her father, Michael “Mike” Woolverton, who died of a drug overdose four years prior when she was just 18 months old, according to Fox News.

But she had someone else in mind: Her grandpa, Steve Guenther.

The two have grown very close since Mike’s passing. They cook and watch football together, he goes to her soccer games, and he and his wife helped raise her for more than a year when her mother Kelsey Woolverton went back to school to become a hairstylist.

“Her and my dad get along so well,” Kelsey told Good Morning America.

Guenther knew about the dance in advance, and wanted to take Austyn — but Kelsey told him that Austyn really wanted to ask him herself. She caught the heartwarming moment on video, and it has since gone viral.

“There’s a Valentine’s Day dance,” Austyn began, according to the video Kelsey posted on TikTok.

“But we need our dad to go there. My dad is not going to go. Will you go with me?”

@kdub1220I’m not crying….♬ Surrender – Natalie Taylor

“I would love to!” Guenther responded.

Kelsey also posted an adorable update after they went to the dance, showing the two thoroughly enjoying themselves and dressed to the nines.

The form of the original request surprised Kelsey, who didn’t expect Austyn to explain that her own father couldn’t go. She said they talk about Mike often to keep his memory alive.

“We talk about her dad like it’s the weather,” Kelsey said. “So it was kind of funny that I even recorded it. I don’t really know what prompted me to even start recording it but I’m glad I did.

@kdub1220 Replying to @texgirlfla #bellethreads ♬ original sound – Kelsey Woolverton

“It was spur of the moment. I just thought she would like go ask him. She wanted to draw him a picture and like I never thought she would have said like all those sweet little things.

“I was tearing up and I think my mom was tearing up, and then when I stopped recording, my mom and I … we couldn’t even look at each other because it was super sweet.”

“She is usually not that emotional about her father passing and so it just kind of struck us all with surprise that she eloquently asked him that way,” Kelsey added when talking to Fox News.

“I had no idea she would put that together that she needed her dad to go, but he wouldn’t be there.”

The video has been especially meaningful for people who were raised by single parents and know the feeling of missing out on activities that require the missing parent. Kelsey said she is so thankful that her dad has been there for her daughter, and hopes their moment in the limelight helps people think about more ways to include those who might be missing a parent.

“He would do anything for her,” she told GMA. “He never tries to replace that role obviously. Her dad’s irreplaceable, but I’m really happy she has like a male figure in her life to kind of be that for her.”

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