Englewood Independent details alum’s gift for music practice room

Excerpt

Steve King ’85 in the music practice room in the Creative Arts Center named after his mother, Marilee King, who graduated from Wright State in 1969 with a degree in education. (Photos by Erin Pence)

FAIRBORN — For eight years of their lives — between the ages of 7 and 15 — Steve and Mike King practiced the piano virtually every day on a baby grand in the living room of their Trotwood home.

Their mother — Marilee King — insisted on it.

“There was no way out of it and there was no quitting,” recalled Steve King, now 59. “She was the law, and you were going to do as was expected of you. Her standard phrase in response was, ‘You’ll thank me some day.’ And by God was she right.”

In honor of Marilee King, who graduated from Wright State University in 1969 with a degree in education, College of Liberal Arts Dean Linda Caron made a donation to have a music-practice room in the university’s Creative Arts Center named after her.

“I admired her greatly,” said Caron, a close friend of Marilee’s and Steve King’s partner for the past 23 years. “She was a strong, smart and independent woman with a great sense of humor and an enormous love of family.”

Steve King, who graduated from Wright State in 1985 with a degree in political science, would use the music practice rooms a few times a week when he was a student because he didn’t have a keyboard where he lived. He hopes Caron’s donation inspires others to give back to the university.

Read the entire story at englewoodindependent.com