They celebrate their love on MLK’S birthday
She’s old school, by way of Camden, N.J. She’d never had white friends.
He’s classic rock from Watertown, S.D. The only Black person he knew was in high school, a teen with a large afro, adopted by a white family.
Their paths first crossed in June 2002 in the parking lot of a West Side church where they worshipped. They’d each been divorced for 10 years.
She was a QVC customer service representative, wary when the long-haul truck driver struck up a conversation — the first of many marathon talks. He fascinated her.
“I felt safe with him,” she said. “I didn’t think he would do me wrong.”
Today, Eileen, 63, and Mike Koehn, 62, celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary as thousands honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream at one of the nation’s largest marches.
Celebrating their nuptials on the federal holiday is one of two connections they have with the late civil rights leader.
In the summer of 1973, Mike Koehn was 11 when his family went on a vacation to Memphis, Tenn. His father, a farm equipment manufacturer, asked a dealer for a tour of the city in the Mississippi Delta. One of their stops was a white, two-story hotel on Mulberry Street. When they walked up the stairs, their tour guide scanned the room numbers on the doors. He asked the 11-year-old to stand in front of room 306.
The inn was the Lorraine Motel, where an assassin’s bullet slew the civil rights leader. The youngster knew King’s name — he was the man whose televised funeral brought his mother to tears.
“It made an impact on me,” Mike said. “I was standing in the place where the man who had a dream was shot.”
For Eileen, it was her first interracial relationship. On their first date, she held her hand up to the light.
“You do realize that I’m Black,” she said.
“Yeah,” he replied. “Do you have a problem with that?” “No,” she said with a smile. When they knew they were getting serious, they shared the news with their families. He told his four children; she was unsure of what her three children’s reaction would be to their courtship. She told her late son that Mike was a brother from church, “but he’s not a brother.”
“Mom,” he said, “just as long as he’s good to you.”
In 2014, Eileen suffered a stroke. Her husband became her caretaker, driving her to appointments and wherever she needed.
She’s found a safe haven for several years at the Doris Griffin Senior One-stop Center at 6157 N.W. Loop 410, near Ingram Park Mall. The center is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.
She rises early to catch a VIA shuttle there on Mondays and Thursdays — it’s the place where friends look for her and talk about old times, “when life was simple and really good.” She enjoys sharing holidays, birthdays and personal milestones.
“You feel like you’re part of a family,” she said. “They make me feel wanted and needed.”
Coloring books and markers that relatives bought her filled the basket of her walker. During quiet moments, she’ll sit at a table in the dining hall, coloring page after page. Always nearby is her digital tablet filled with images of her two daughters, relatives and their wedding day.
When she gets overstimulated, Mike keeps her calm. She taught him the value of listening.
Though she’s flamboyant and he’s low-key, they balance one another.
The couple would like to attend the march, but it’s hard for Eileen to navigate her walker in a crowd.
So, they’ll be there in spirit, supporting King’s dream of the day that children of all races walk hand in hand.