Carroll Sue Tetzlaff Keith
Mike and I had an on-again-off-again friendship/romance for several years before my marriage in 1966. I loved him dearly and didn't realize just how much until I looked him up recently and learned of his passing. The last time I saw Mike was in early 1966. I hadn't heard from him since May of 1965 when he had come unexpectedly to my parents home in Oberlin while I was on my first date with my future husband. We didn't have contact at that time. But then Mike called me one evening in January of 1966, just after my engagement, and asked to see me. During our visit, Mike was characteristically warm, funny, and ironic, yet respectful of my new status. I have always been struck by his bookend appearances at the beginning and end of my courtship. My marriage lasted 29 years and was not a happy one. I was glad to read that Mike apparently found happiness with his life partner, Jan Field. I never heard from him after that January night in 1966.
I treasure the memories of driving around the Ohio countryside in his TR-3. On one such drive, he told me that he wanted to have several children and dress them all in leiderhosen. Apparently, neither of us had children.
I remember his calling me at work--a smooooching sound the reply to my "Hello?". Always pushing the limits, but always respecting the boundaries. I remember his calling me from Cleveland and asking me to meet him at a poetry reading/art exhibit in Lorain. I will never forget the way he took my hand on that occasion--a trustful, manly gesture that touched my heart with a deep sense of kinship.
Mike was with me when I bought my first car--a VW Beetle. He told me that I was too "classy" to drive a Beetle. (They were cheap and I was a poor secretary. I later earned a Ph.D. in Humanities but still have never been "rich." As a fellow university instructor, I was happy to read that he had bought a 10-acre farm in Michigan, my birth state and a place I've always wanted to return to.)
The memories flow, and I am glad to have finally recognized how deeply I cared for Mike and how much I love him today. We all have all of eternity before us, and I feel certain that I will see Mike again!
Carroll Sue Tetzlaff Keith
July 21, 2019
