When New York gave same-sex couples the freedom to marry last year, 91-year-old Cris Alexander and 85-year-old Shaun O’Brien were one of the many couples who chose to tie the knot. At the time of their marriage, they had already been together for more than sixty years. This year, both Shaun and Cris died — less than two weeks apart.
O’Brien, a dancer, died on February 23 at the age of 86. In its obituary for Alexander, an actor and photographer who passed away on March 7 at age 92, the New York Times quotes a friend of the couple who has no doubt about the cause of Mr. Alexander’s death:
“If there is a cause of death, it’s a broken heart,” his friend Jane Klain said in confirming Mr. Alexander’s death. “It’s as simple as that.”
Click on the link to read the full obituary.
Haters take note: this is what true love looks like. Try as you might to slander LGBT people, demonize us, and spread lies about our lives, our loves, and our families, you’ll never be able to put us back in the closet; never again will you prevent our stories from being told. And guess what? Our stories are just like yours. Like you, we fall in love, form committed relationships, marry, and live our lives together. Like you, many of us have been together for 30, 40, 50, and even 60 years. And like you, our hearts can be broken when the lights of our lives are extinguished.
What a beautiful story and a wonderful life they had together. Here’s to our quiet, unsung role models.
Wow. This is beautiful. Bless them both. My husband and I have been married only 5 years and we hope we will both live to our 50th.
I get so tired of haters and their comments that we cannot “really” love our parnters/spouses. Stories like that prove them wrong.
Truly inspirational that they were together for so long.
Also, to old movie fan buffs out there: Cris Alexander portrayed Mr. Loomis, the Macy’s boss who yelled at Rosalind Russell in “Auntie Mame.”
Any activity that I did for marriage was in part because of Ermano Stingo and Boris Maysels who were
friends and mentors and who lived as a couple for
35 years. I only wish that marriage had come to New
York State while they were alive. Cris and Shaun so
remind me of them.
My aunt and uncle were in the same nursing home and died within a few days of each other. The staff told my cousin that this was not uncommon for couples who had been together for many years; but it was rare for one to die within ‘days’ of the other.