A couple that has been together for almost four decades finally tied the knot this past summer after same-sex marriage became legal in Pennsylvania.
Robert Mason and Larry Sechrist were married May 29, 2014, in Borough Hall in Phoenixville, in a private ceremony officiated by the mayor of Phoenixville, Michael Speck. They were the first same-sex couple to be wed by Speck.
Mason, 71, and Sechrist, 68, met on Aug. 27, 1977, at the former Club Bath bathhouse in Philadelphia.
“We were together every weekend from then on,” Sechrist said.
At the time, Mason was living in Phoenixville and Sechrist in Philly. They dated for about two years before deciding to move in together in May 1979.
Mason’s parents lived on the first floor of their family home in Phoenixville, while Mason and Sechrist lived on the second, acting as caregivers for 19 years.
“They were the most wonderful in-laws you could’ve asked for,” said Sechrist. “They were very supportive of our relationship, which was amazing considering the times.”
When same-sex marriage became legal last summer, the couple could not believe it.
“For our generation, we never imagined that marriage would be a possibility,” said Sechrist. “When young people began pushing for it, we thought that was interesting but that it would never actually happen, especially in Pennsylvania.”
Instead, the couple was tentatively planning to head to Delaware to tie the knot on their Aug. 27 anniversary. But their plans were postponed when they had to help care for their neighbor, who was undergoing cancer treatment.
After it became legal in Pennsylvania, they decided to approach the mayor of Phoenixville to officiate a small private ceremony.
They said they were pleasantly surprised that he agreed and said it would be an honor.
The couple went with a “something old, something new” theme, and each carried small photographs of their parents in their pockets. They got their suits from Boscov’s and rings from Zales.
While the couple felt their parents were there in spirit, they found additional confirmation of their blessing with a good omen after the ceremony.
“We were sitting in the mayor’s office afterwards, and he reached into a bowl behind his chair and offered us Werther’s butterscotch candies,” said Sechrist. “They were Bob’s mother’s absolute favorite. She carried them with her everywhere. We knew that was her way of giving us her blessing.”
Sechrist, originally from Tunkhannock, worked as a bookkeeper for the Philadelphia branch of the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens, and later worked for a group home for intellectually challenged people. He retired in May 2013 after 39 years.
Mason, a Pottstown-area native, worked as a paint-shader in Phoenixville. After developing an allergy to chemicals in some of the paint, he became an aid at Phoenixville Hospital.
Both Sechrist and Mason are retired now. They enjoy spending their free time researching their family histories on Ancestry.com.