CHARLOTTE, NC / Feb. 13, 2026 - Before careers, before marriage, before having daughters and decades together, Kemuel Murray, Class of 2000, and Eunice Emmanuel (Murray) , Class of 1998, were two students with singular paths finding their way across the sprawling campus of Johnson C. Smith University. Eunice was a business major with a concentration in accounting. She had her eyes on the prize, graduating with honors. Kemuel was a history major, ready to learn and mingle.
The year was 1997 during the fall semester. The two arrived on campus early. They shared mutual friends.
“I knew about her before I really knew her,” Kemuel said with a smile. “Everyone knew Eunice.”
“He was quiet,” Eunice remembered. “I might have intimidated him just a little.”
Eunice and Kemuel crossed paths back in the 1990s, the era of Lauryn Hill and Tupac, D’Angelo and Erykah Badu. JCSU was hoppin’ from the Block to the Mary Taylor Crisp Student Union - and that is where their love story took root.
Like many college love stories of the late 1990s, the love story of the Murrays – now married - unfolded across dorm phones and campus mixers. Eunice caught Kemuel’s eye. He asked for her number then quickly lost it. Eunice had slipped him the wrong number. Kemuel had no idea. Love is a game for two.
“I had to ask her again,” Kemuel said laughing.
This time Eunice complied and gave her new acquaintance the correct digits. He called. She answered. What was meant to be a brief chat became an hours-long conversation.
“We talked all night,” Eunice recalls. “And then the next night, and the next.”
In those long, unhurried conversations, the distance between Eunice and Kemuel disappeared. Laughter became a bridge. Trust settled in. The two became a campus mainstay, a popular couple on campus. Everyone knew Eunice and Kemuel.
In 1998 Eunice graduated with top honors, valedictorian of her class. Post-graduation the love story continued another five years. The couple grew together as they stepped into adulthood: graduation, careers, marriage, family.
For Eunice, after two and a half decades of marriage, the heart of their love story is rooted in the familiar.
“We have so much in common,” she says. “We love where we come from. Our families are hardworking, loving, close. We both value family.”
Eunice and Kemuel also value their school, JCSU – the history, the culture, the community.
“This is where it started,” Eunice said softly. “Not just our relationship — but realizing we were building something real.”
Graduating, transitioning into careers, and facing adulthood side by side strengthened the foundation.
“Going through that season — knowing someone loves you and is walking with you through it — that meant everything,” Kemuel chimed in.
Now, nearly 25 years into marriage, Kemuel traces the couple’s lifetime of happiness back to those first campus conversations. The years since have brought a bounty of gifts.
“We have two beautiful daughters,” Kemuel said proudly. “One in college and one right behind her.” He called fatherhood one of life’s greatest joys. “Watching them grow into who they’re becoming — that’s everything.”
Life brings a combination of joy and challenges.
“No marriage is perfect. We’ve had real ups and downs,” Kemuel revealed. “The core has never changed. We’re not just married,” he said. “We’re family for life.”
24 Hours of Love
For Kemuel Murray and Eunice Emmanuel Murray, devotion to Johnson C. Smith University is inseparable from their devotion to one another.
“I love this institution with all my heart,” Kemuel said. “It did so much to make me who I am today — as a man and as a person. I give back to JCSU so today’s students can have what I had — the chance to grow, to be involved, to become.”
For Eunice, the connection to JCSU is simple and lasting. “We didn’t just earn degrees here,” she said. “We found each other here.”
At Johnson C. Smith University, the Emmanuel-Murray love story began: at basketball games, during late-night calls, and lectures inside Biddle Hall. True love lights the way.
