When Kyra Hanlon, from Conshohocken, and Sam Batiste, from Suwanee, Georgia, first met during day one of their AmeriCorps service project, they were both sizing each other up and didn’t think too highly of one another, writes Kellie Patrick Gates for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

But they quickly became friends soon after.

Both had gone to Memphis for a three-part, yearlong project where they gave vision screening to children in hopes of correcting issues before they could cause problems with literacy, among other things. The pair often would travel across Tennessee to test kids’ eyes, and wound up having deep conversations together that forged a close friendship.

“It was very freeing to not have to take on any of the identities that go with being in certain spaces,” Sam said. “I didn’t have to be the Black football player with Kyra. I am just Sam.”

They were both attracted to one another, but it wasn’t for several months (and failed dates with others) that the two finally confessed their feelings and started pursuing a relationship.

Kyra signed on to work a second year with AmeriCorps while Sam found a job at the local Comcast. In August, Kyra’s brother Sean passed away from complications of cerebral palsy at 19. She was devastated.

“I flew up to Philadelphia and Sam came up for the funeral,” she said. “He was a rock for me during that time. It was a new experience to have a partner who was really there for me — someone to catch me, and hold me, and help me feel.”

Kyra moved to Washington in September 2018 to work for Georgetown’s University’s Center for Social Justice. The pair dated long-distance until Sam landed a job with Chong + Koster in February 2019, reuniting the two.

In March 2020, the pair got engaged in front of the Supreme Court, the same place that struck down state laws banning interracial marriage in 1967.

The couple got married on October 16, 2021, at the Manor House at Prophecy Creek in Ambler.

“I was bawling my eyes out because it was so amazing,” said Sam.

The two first said their vows in private, then repeated them in front of 175 friends and family members. Among the couple’s vows was “I promise to support you in all that you do, and encourage the unique spirit that is you.”

Read more about Sam and Kyra’s marriage at Ambler’s Manor House in The Philadelphia Inquirer.