Keith Markins died on Feb. 21, 1996, of AIDS.
After two years of grief, his sister Sheila Massengale wants the world to know that her brother is not just a statistic in the long battle against a killer disease. He was a loving man, an aspiring actor and a brave fighter.
On Tuesday, she presented a panel to be added to the thousands of others on the AIDS Memorial Quilt. About 1,300 of that quilt's 78,000 panels are on display through Friday at the University of Cincinnati's Shoemaker Center.
"I wanted my brother's name to be among the others. He, like the rest here, fought a really honorable battle against a very horrible disease," Ms. Massengale said.
Panels on display
A portion of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is on display at the Shoemaker Center at the University of Cincinnati today and Thursday from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. and Friday 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
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Mr. Markins was a West Virginia native who moved to Los Angeles to become an actor. He made a living working as a hospital technician. When he was 22, Mr. Markins was diagnosed with AIDS. He spent his last year at his sister's Lakeside Park home, where he died at age 29.
For about six months, the pain of the loss was unbearable, Ms. Massengale said. Then she began getting involved with AIDS organizations, first answering phones and eventually being there for others with the disease.
A section of the quilt reflects the life of a Cincinnati man.
(Craig Ruttle photo)
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She decided to build a panel to her brother a few months back, and had been working on it a little bit at a time since. It shows a marquee featuring Keith Markins' name. There are also special notes from those he knew.
The quilt allows friends and families to express their grief for loved ones, said Neil Beach, a quilt display organizer from Gettysburg, Pa. It also gives a human face to people with AIDS, he added.
Many of the panels are from Cincinnati or have local ties, said Mindy Piles, who helped organize the display.
