54 Years Lost

Coming of age in the South in the ‘50s, as Ronnie did, was like being handed a life sentence to live in the closet. Ronnie was in his thirties when he met Earl, the love of his life. Although they hid their relationship for the first three decades, they spent 44 happy years together traveling and living life to the fullest before Earl passed away. Ronnie’s mother knew her son’s sexual orientation but he never shared that he was gay with his father, or his colleagues, and neither did Earl. They both feared it would derail their careers and alienate their success and acceptance in Raleigh, North Carolina. It wasn’t until they were well over 50 that they finally came out to their inner circle. In greater society, there was still a stigma that it was wrong.