Joy Taylor Howell of Rome announces the engagement of her daughter Dr. Leigh Taylor Howell to Dr. David “Ryan” Weldon, son of Dr. and Mrs. T. Darrell Weldon of Ringgold.

The bride-elect is the 2001 Model High School salutatorian and is a 2005 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. While at the University of Georgia, she served on the executive board of the Kappa Delta Sorority, Sigma Phi Chapter. She graduated from the Medical College of Georgia’s School of Dentistry with a D.M.D. in May 2009, and was named a member of the Alpha Upsilon Phi leadership and service honor society. She will complete a residency program in pediatric dentistry at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta in June of 2011.

The bride-elect is the sister of Mitchell Forrest Howell of Rome. She is the daughter of the late Ray Olan Howell Jr. She is the granddaughter of William Thurman Taylor, the late Sara Barrett Taylor and the late Ray and Margaret Howell, all of Rome.

The groom-elect is a 1998 graduate of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School and a 2003 graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. He graduated from the Medical College of Georgia’s School of Dentistry with a D.M.D. in May 2010 and will complete a general practice residency at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta in June of 2011.