A story by Kevin McGowan remembered by his brother, Mike, on the occasion of his
Memorial Service at the Newman-Benson Chapel at Lyngblomsten Care Center, St. Paul, MN.
Saturday, June 11, 2022
Kev often said that attending AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) helped him be less critical of other people. As an example, he occasionally told a story that relates to former Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. She was struck in the knee prior to the 1994 US Olympic figure skating trials. The story was national news and video of a crying Nancy Kerrigan was broadcast widely. Kev admitted thinking at the time, “What a baby, crying like that”.
Fast forward about 15 years. Kev had embraced learning to live with his vision loss. He had taken many classes to learn to live more independently. At one point he decided to travel on his own to Kansas City for conference of individuals suffering from vision loss. Nancy Kerrigan’s mother was one of those individuals. Nancy Kerrigan was a featured speaker.
After traveling to Kansas City and checking into his hotel, Kev had a panic attack and questioned why he had traveled by himself. He told himself he just couldn’t leave the hotel room. Given AA’s second step to believe in a greater power, Kev said a prayer to ask for the courage to leave the hotel room. He got up and went to look for the elevator. As he walked down the hall, he heard a voice say, “Can I help you?”. It was Nancy Kerrigan. He recognized her since she had a rather distinctive voice. She rode the elevator with Kev and ensured that he got checked in and where he needed to be. She did this even after conference organizer's had approached her to outline appearance commitments at the conference. Her response: "I need to make sure my new friend gets settled."
Kev usually concluded the story with, "Here was the person that I remember thinking so critically of. She was quite literally the answer to my prayer."
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