Ms. Carolyn Grooms Gatch of Peachtree City, and Edward Phillip Gatch of Bentonville, Ark. announce the engagement of their daughter, Lainie Gatch, to Pete Powell, son of Mrs. Richard Layton Powell and the late Mr. Richard Layton Powell of Augusta.

The bride-elect is the granddaughter of James Napier Gatch of Charleston, S.C., the late Mrs. Frances Wrenn Gatch, and Ms. Eva Grooms of Hamlet, N.C. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia and recently earned her master’s degree in English from Georgia State University. She currently is employed by The Lovett School in Atlanta, and plans to begin her doctoral degree in the fall at Columbia University in New York.

The future groom is the grandson of Mrs. Alexander Francis Daley of Savannah, the late Alexander Francis Daley, and the late Mr. and Mrs. Medford Layton Powell. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and is a member of the Kappa Alpha Order. He currently is employed by Guardian and RS Funds as a regional sales director.

After a July wedding in Augusta, the couple will reside in Birmingham, Ala.