/*Scott Napper*/ planned to pop the question to /*Leafil Alforque*/, 22, at a spot near /*Neskowin Beach*/ that got its name from couples ready to marry.
Napper said the tide had receded around Proposal Rock on Saturday when the couple began to walk to it. He planned to propose and give her the ring he carried in his pocket.
About 10 feet from the rock, a wave around 3 feet high suddenly came toward them.
"I turned into it to keep from getting pulled under it," Napper said.
By the time he turned to find Alforque, only 4-foot-11 and 93 pounds, she had been caught by the receding waters.
"She was about 30 feet away, getting swept away," Napper said.
The 45-year-old Silverton man tore off his jacket to get rid of any extra weight, and when he looked up again she was gone.
"That's the last I saw of her," he said Wednesday, breaking into tears.
Emergency personnel called by someone on the beach arrived within minutes. His own phone no longer worked after being exposed to the water.
Along with rescuers, he searched for any sign of Alforque.
"I yelled for her," he said. "I was praying to God."
At one point, he saw someone wearing red - the color of her jacket - on the shore signaling for him. But he quickly realized it was a rescuer.
Thick fog and dangerous water conditions hampered the rescue efforts before the search was called off Monday.
Napper and Alforque had been dating since they met on the Internet in 2005. Alforque arrived in Oregon on a visa from the Philippines just three days before the fateful trip to the coast.
Her 25-year-old sister, Nova Alforque, said the family hopes the body can be recovered.
"My mother is always crying, day and night," Nova Alforque said by telephone from the Philippines. "She wants my sister back. Even if she is dead, she wants her body to bury."
The Tillamook County Sheriff's Office is checking the beach and looking for possible witnesses, Sheriff Todd Anderson said. Police don't suspect foul play, he said.
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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
