By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Shirley Tedford of Springfield Township always regretted that she was not part of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, not well-versed in the teachings of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. until much later in life.

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But during the noon hour Monday, as she walked in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day march through downtown Cincinnati with her 10-year-old daughter, Jessica, and nieces Asia, 10, and Tamar, 11, her heart thrilled at watching the young girls catch the spirit of the day.

"I want them to always remember Dr. King and the people who went before them, to make life better for all of us,'' Tedford said as the three girls skipped along Vine Street amidst hundreds of marchers.

"And I know they will carry it on.''

They were among the many people around Greater Cincinnati Monday who marched, sang and prayed in an array of Martin Luther King Jr. Day events - from the annual downtown Cincinnati march to the ringing of the Peace Bell in Newport to an Arts Consortium breakfast at Music Hall to a holiday Mass in Evanston to a march in West Chester.

The day began with about 600 people packing the Music Hall ballroom for the annual Martin Luther King Day breakfast. The Arts Consortium of Cincinnati gave out its annual "Dreamkeeper'' awards for excellence in arts education. This year, the awards went to:

• Maggie Perkins, a senior at Walnut Hills High School.

• Wylie Ferguson, who is retiring this year after 30 years of teaching art at Walnut Hills High School.

• Georgia Beasley, a 100-year-old Cincinnatian who taught art for 50 years in Cincinnati Public Schools.

In West Chester, frigid temperatures didn't stop 15-year-old Ryan Lindsay from marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day as more than just a day off from school.

The Lakota East High School student left the comfort of his Liberty Township home to join 55 people for March for Unity, an outdoor demonstration through Olde West Chester.

Just after 1 p.m., the marchers left Greater Grace Church on Cincinnati-Dayton Road for a 10-minute walk to West Chester Presbyterian Church.

As he walked, Lindsay joined the group, including his parents Kenneth and Tina Lindsay and brothers Brandon, 14, and Austin, 8, in a stirring rendition of "We Shall Overcome."

"Without the things that he's done, I wouldn't be able to go to school where I am because we wouldn't have the same freedoms we do," Ryan said after a short presentation by speaker Annie Ruth.

The downtown Cincinnati march, a longstanding tradition, began at 11:15 a.m. in 20-degree weather, as hundreds gathered on Fountain Square for a short prayer service. It was followed by a nine-block march to Music Hall, where the 100-plus voices of the Martin Luther King Coalition Chorale performed a 40-minute requiem to the slain civil rights leader.

Dozens in the Fountain Square audience mouthed along with the words of the Declaration of Independence, as read by Rabbi Gary Zola:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.''

After the prayer service, as the crowd began moving up Vine Street, a handful of people began softly singing "We Shall Overcome,'' the anthem of the civil rights movement. Soon, all were singing.

Nicole Patterson of Bond Hill walked along the parade route with her children and grandchildren, all of whom carried handmade signs honoring King and his "I Have a Dream'' speech.

"I passed up a business meeting in Atlanta to be here with the kids,'' Patterson said. "They have been marching since they learned to walk. They look forward to it every year.''

Her granddaughter, 7-year-old Renee, had the best view of the march, perched on the shoulders of her grandfather, Terry Patterson, and waving her handmade "I Have A Dream" sign.

On the back side side of her sign was a hand-written message: "It's My Dream.''

In Northern Kentucky, a group of about 25 gathered at 5 p.m. near Fifth and York streets for a prayer followed by the ringing of the Peace Bell.

"He was a great leader," 12-year-old Austin Livingood of Newport said. "My mom and dad taught me about him."

Afterward, the group marched through Newport and Covington to the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, where the "Convene the Dream Memorial Program," was held.

The program, which featured singing and a dramatization of The Ghost of Harriet Tubman by Pat Fann, was held "to celebrate a man who helped us see things like we'd never seen them before,'' the Rev. Richard Fowler told the crowd of about 250.

Keynote speaker Spencer R. Crew, executive director and CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, said King was like Harriet Tubman and others who helped slaves to freedom via the underground railroad by choosing to get involved.

A newly arrived pastor in Montgomery, Ala., King was called on by other ministers to lead the bus boycott that followed Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white person, Crew said. But King, like the underground railroad activists, was willing to put his life at risk and get involved, he said.

"That choice changed his life,'' Crew said.

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William A. Weathers and Perry Schaible contributed. E-mail hwilkinson@enquirer.com