90-year-old former US Senator announces marriage to a man two decades after death of wife
By Ben Kelly
A former US senator has announced that he is to marry to re-marry two decades after the death of his wife of 50 years – this time to a man.
Harris Wofford, 90, was married to his wife Claire from 1948 until her death from leukemia in 1996. This weekend, writing in The New York Times, he spoke about finding love again, with Matthew Charlton, a man 50 years his junior.
Recalling the loss of his wife, Wofford described his grief after losing her, and how he felt he was too old to ever have a new relationship.
“I was sure I would never again feel the kind of love Clare and I shared,” he wrote.
This changed 15 years ago when he met Matthew Charlton on a Fort Lauderdale beach. “We were decades apart in age with far different professional interests,” he said, “yet we clicked.” He adds that it took three years before he had the courage to tell his children about the relationship.
Wofford wrote an impassioned defense of love over labels, saying, “Too often, our society seeks to label people by pinning them on the wall — straight, gay or in between.
“I don’t categorize myself based on the gender of those I love. I had a half-century of marriage with a wonderful woman, and now am lucky for a second time to have found happiness.”
He admits he was surprised that same-sex marriage became a reality in his lifetime, but has been totally grateful for the change, saying, “It is right to expand our conception of marriage to include all Americans who love each other.”
A long term figure in the Democratic party, Wofford was a special assistant for civil rights to President John F. Kennedy and adviser to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
An attorney and a military veteran, he also served as a senator for Pennsylvania from 1991 to 1995.
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