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Kevin and Lainie McWilliams: “The students know us together”
CIU couple celebrates 40 years of marriage, 20 years at CIU
Kevin and Lainie McWilliams recall that DTR moment in their lives. It was April 4, 1977 when they sat on a bench
at the spot that today overlooks the Pine View Apartments. They had been friends for nearly two years knowing
each other as classmates and through church. Now it was time to Define The Relationship.
“We finally realized what had been going on in our hearts,” Kevin said. “That’s when we officially started
dating. But we both knew that night we would end up getting married.”
And they did.
They celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2018, with the last 20 years serving together at the school where
they met. Kevin is a Bible Studies professor and Lainie is on staff in the Student Life Office. During an interview
with the couple in the Rossi Student Center, both admitted they were the last to know that they would become a
couple.
“A number of people saw this coming,” Kevin and Lainie said with a laugh. Among them was revered CIU professor Buck Hatch. When
Kevin and Lainie got up from that bench in 1977, the first thing they did was walk “Faculty Row,” the road to The Pointe that used to be
lined with the houses of several faculty members. They knocked on the door of the Hatch household.
When Mr. Hatch opened the door he knew something was up. “We were just giddy,” Kevin admits. Lainie remembers Mr. Hatch calling
to his wife: “Mittie start another one!” At that moment she was sewing a wedding present for another couple.
Professor Hatch was one of the people who “saw this coming.”
Kevin left CIU for ministry work, but returned to marry Lainie after she graduated in May 1978. He
would later finish his bachelor’s degree and earn a master’s degree from CIU.
Forty years later, CIU is the beneficiary of this couple’s union. They realize that they are an example to
the students, because as Lainie states it, “The students know us together.”
“We prayed at the very beginning that our marriage would reflect Jesus and be a blessing and a
challenge to others, and God has been gracious enough to allow that to happen,” Kevin said.
They recalled that as they dated, Kevin would occasionally give three roses to Lainie, two red and
one white, symbolizing Christ at the center of their relationship. It even “blossomed” into a song that
Kevin wrote for their wedding titled “The Three of Us.”
“The three of us will share His love, we’ll walk hand-in-hand,” Lainie recited from the chorus of the
song. “And as the three of us are one, we pray the world will see and turn to the Son.”
“We prayed at
the very beginning
that our marriage
would reflect
Jesus and be
a blessing and
a challenge to
others...”
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CIU Today
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Spring 2019
CAMPUS LIFE