Leslie, you'll especially love this!
They discussed going to Massachusetts or Canada, where same-sex marriages are legal, but thought better of it.
"We wanted to do this in Maine because it is our home," Mr. Moll said. "It means a lot to us, more than it means legally."
From the New York Times, Sunday June 18, 2006
VOWS
Richard Moll and Wallace Pinfold
By ELIZABETH EDWARDSEN
Published: June 18, 2006
SOMETIMES it takes a gardener to teach you how to smell the roses.
The Rev. Robert Ives officiates, Mr. Moll left.
Just ask Richard Moll, 71, who on May 28 affirmed his partnership with Wallace Pinfold, 59.
Mr. Pinfold, whose specialty is the hybridization of Siberian and Japanese irises, identified for Mr. Moll a small fragrant bush that grew near Mr. Moll's riverfront home in Brunswick, Me.
"A mock orange," Mr. Moll said. "I never smelled it before. I never identified it before, and now I want to buy a couple of new ones."
Mr. Pinfold also taught Mr. Moll, a retired college admissions director, author and lecturer, how to distinguish the osprey from the bald eagles that dive for fish in the river.
Mr. Pinfold, who is also a contract interpreter for the State Department, and Mr. Moll, the author of "Playing the Selective College Admissions Game" (Penguin, 1994), met at a garden party in Brunswick. At the party, Bowdoin alumni whom Mr. Moll had once accepted in his role as the college's director of admissions gathered for a 25th reunion.
When Mr. Pinfold, a Princeton man himself, was introduced to Mr. Moll, he said that he was delighted to meet the man credited with changing the face of Bowdoin by making SAT scores optional and ushering in coeducation and racial diversity.
At the time of the party, the talk of Brunswick, Mr. Pinfold's hometown, was a proposed statue of Gen. Joshua Chamberlain, a Civil War hero, Maine governor and Bowdoin president. Mr. Pinfold remembered adding, "They should be putting up a statue of you."
As Mr. Moll recalled: "I melted. I think I said, 'Now, who are you?' That was just so cool."
What began that day developed into a five-year relationship, which grew out of common interests. Mr. Moll often tackled them head on, while Mr. Pinfold approached them in a relaxed manner.
For example, both swim laps. Mr. Pinfold said he swims "for the hell of it." Mr. Moll, meanwhile, competed in the Gay Games in Amsterdam and Sydney when he was in his 60's and plans to compete again in Chicago next month.
They also have the same liberal politics and have worked on campaigns together. Last year they helped defeat a Maine referendum to overturn the state gay rights law, which doesn't provide marital rights but does prohibit discrimination for sexual orientation.
"I think it was during that period of time that we realized that we not only wanted to spend our lives together, but that maybe it would be good to stand up and be counted," Mr. Moll said.
They discussed going to Massachusetts or Canada, where same-sex marriages are legal, but thought better of it.
"We wanted to do this in Maine because it is our home," Mr. Moll said. "It means a lot to us, more than it means legally."
The Rev. Robert Ives, a minister of the United Church of Christ, led a commitment ceremony for them at the Union Church in Harpswell, Me., a historic building owned by the local garden club, of which Mr. Pinfold is a member.
"I have to say, 10 or 15 years ago, I couldn't have imagined an occasion like this," Mr. Pinfold told the 157 guests, who sat in the stark and simple pews. "I couldn't have imagined myself standing up in front of you all or any group and saying: 'This is my beloved. To him I plight my troth.' "
Just before they exchanged vows and rings, Mr. Moll described for their guests Mr. Pinfold's enduring influence on his life:
"He has taught me how to slow down and smell roses and many other elements of life, and for that I am so grateful. And life will be so much better for us both as a result."
Nice photos of the happy couple---if anyone able to add them, lovely!
