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Elgin Chaplain: Martin Luther King's Story 'Never Grows Old'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- When Rev. Don Shank heard Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech in 1963, to him it was like hearing "a voice of the divine," so you can imagine what an honor it was to meet the civil rights leader two years later in Selma, Alabama.

Shank was 40 years old in 1963 when he joined 250,000 people on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for King's most famous speech. He said he still gets goosebumps telling the story.

"This man is the king of oration, and when he started on that 'I have a dream,' it was one of the most singularly powerful moments, because it was almost like the hand of God had fallen upon him, and this is a voice of the divine," he said.

Shank, 92, said he was blessed to be able to shake King's hand two years later in Selma, the day before King led thousands of demonstrators on a five-day, 54-mile march to Montgomery, Alabama, to highlight racial injustice in the South, and push for passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act.

"The night before the march, at Brown Chapel [AME Church], I had an opportunity to hear him speak, and afterwards to shake hands with him," he said.

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The retired pastor of Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren in Elgin said hearing King's speech and later meeting him in Selma were transformative experiences in his life.

"Many of us have opportunities in our life's journey to be in touch with something special, and sometimes we don't know how special it was until in retrospect," he said.

Shank had grown up in a small Pennsylvania town, and never had any encounters with black people until he arrived in Elgin in 1961, and that's when he realized African Americans couldn't rent or buy housing on Elgin's west side.

"I began to realize this is morally wrong," he said. "My conscience began to be awakened to the inequities of African Americans, and when they had the march on Washington, I felt it was an opportunity for me to put my feet where my faith was."

Now a part-time oncology chaplain at Presence Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, Shank said he was touched by greatness thanks to King, and felt the need in his own ministry to pass that good on to others.

"The story about him is a story that never grows old. It's never out of date," Shank said.

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