S unday, a new law will change lives in our state.
It won’t matter much to an Arlington couple who committed to one another 17 years ago today.
As dawn breaks this morning, Sue McDaniel and Andrea Walton will already be celebrating their union, which also happened at dawn on July 20, 1991. Family and friends came to their farm for the event, where they served breakfast and danced up a storm.
On April 10, the Washington Legislature approved a law that gives same-sex couples many state rights of marriage; but it doesn’t legalize gay marriage or civil unions.
“When we got ‘married,’ we went to an attorney,” Walton said. “We had our papers drawn up so we are covered for everything that we feel needs to be covered.”
Nothing can cover prejudice they encounter now and then. An old man on a bicycle used to yell bad things about the women when he rode by their hillside farm.
The couple ignored him, and he has long since disappeared.
McDaniel, 52, is in a peaceful stage of her life with Walton, 62.
They said they have many gay and lesbian neighbors at Arlington Heights.
“I used to live in Index,” said McDaniel. “I knew all the lesbians.”
The pair met in a recovery program where both gained sobriety. McDaniel said she found herself when her relationship with Walton blossomed.
Born in Shelton, Walton lived with both her folks until the seventh grade. Her parents divorced. Her mom was left alone with four girls, then remarried and had four more children in four years.
Walton quit high school, married briefly at age 18, then married again at age 21.
“Three kids and 22 years later, I left to find myself,” Walton said. “Mostly through the bottle.”
McDaniel said she drank and did drugs through high school. She never married or had children. She worked at The Boeing Co. for 13 years, she said, drinking a six pack of beer on the way to work and a six pack at lunch.
When she got sober, she couldn’t face the stressful job, McDaniel said.
The women met at a recovery program in 1990 in Everett. Walton credits First Baptist Church of Everett with support on her road to recovery. After meetings, the new friends walked, talked, then went to the movies where they saw something dumb, they said: “Home Alone.”
McDaniel drove Walton home. They both felt a spark. A frightened Walton, scared of what might come next, dashed from the car. She got a grip, called McDaniel a couple of hours later, and visited the farm the next day.
A couple of months later, she moved in.
“After two failed marriages, I finally realized I was a lesbian,” Walton said. “I have been living happily with my life partner for 17 years.”
Walton calls her “Mac.”
McDaniel calls her “Love.”
“She’s a country girl, and me, a city girl,” Walton said. “Who would have figured we would last? Certainly not me.”
At their farm, which is nearly four acres, they tend livestock, poultry and dogs they’ve rescued. Walton’s teenage granddaughter asked to have a party at the farm. She calls them both “grandmother.”
The grandmothers wondered about what the girl’s friends might think about their relationship.
“It’s all right,” the teen said. “Nobody cares.”
When they go into town to the hardware store, folks call the couple “The girls on the hill.”
“We’re not blatant about it,” McDaniel said. “Arlington has been real receptive.”
Walton works as a caregiver. McDaniel used to work at animal shelters, her passion. She is on disability now with a bad back.
Making out paperwork for this and that, McDaniel said it’s a pain when forms ask if you are a Miss, Ms. or Mrs.
“Married or divorced?” McDaniel said. “That’s always a pain in the patoot.”
Their families and children are fine with their union, both said. Walton’s sister is in a gay relationship, she said. McDaniel said she thinks she was born a lesbian, like having brown hair.
They aren’t rushing to get legislative approval for their commitment.
They have each other’s.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
Kristi O’Harran
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