Scott Brownlee was a cook at a pancake house when his romance with Christine Brownlee began. She was a waitress.

They fell in love, married, had two children and invested their lives in Helena, Mont.

He followed his father's footsteps, becoming a successful certified public accountant - assistant executive director at the Montana Society of CPAs. She worked as a clerk at Montana Tunnels Mine, a gold processing mine just outside of town.

They put their greatest efforts, friends say, in raising their children. She kept their crayoned drawings posted at work. He coached one son's baseball team.

Last week, they left Mark, 13, and Johnny, 11, home with their aunt, Debbie McEachern.

Mr. Brownlee, 34, and his wife, Mrs. Brownlee, 32, were flying to Detroit en route to nearby Windsor, Ontario, where she was scheduled for eye surgery Friday morning. She was tired of contact lenses, and this would correct her vision.

When they returned, they planned to celebrate Mr. Brownlee's 35th birthday on Monday.

Mrs. McEachern was sitting down to dinner with her nephews Thursday night when they got the chilling news.

''It wasn't their time yet,'' Mrs. McEachern said, her voice breaking. ''They always wanted something better.''

Her sister was enrolled in college and wanted to become a physical therapist. Mr. Brownlee wanted to advance as director of his firm, friends said.

''He was a perfectionist,'' next-door neighbor Mick Plovanic said, the kind of guy who built his own deck and helped neighbors work on their cars. Neighbors recall seeing her running every day and sometimes biking with her children.

Their lives seemed ideal, Mr. Plovanic said. ''They were just as good as people can be,'' he said.