served in a MASH unit in Korea and later a field hospital in Saigon, and was my first lesbian friend in this town.
She came out to me while carrying an oxygen tank on a treadmill a few weeks after we met in 2006....here's the story from a thread I posted in October that year:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5688427Last Friday, a 75 year old female vet at the gym asked if I was gay....
She's on oxygen, hard of hearing and can't see shit but she walks the treadmill faithfully every day. She looks rather sour but she isn't. We've talked a few times and I learned she's an ex-lt col who headed a nurses unit during Korea and Viet Nam. She hates Bush and is incensed by the war, tv preachers, and Republicans.
Most days, my partner and I come in together to use the facilities. We rarely speak to each other, but its a small place so we're obviously together. Friday, I came in alone and the room was nearly vacant, except for "Bobbie" who was on one of the treadmills. We spoke, and she asked where my "buddy" was. I walked over to her to answer and, out of the blue, she asked:
"Are you gay?"
Without even thinking (we're not formally out" there, we just go), I said "Yeah"
Her response? A smile, a nod and "Me too".
Blew me away! She even outed another club member who graduated high school with her! We talked for about 20 minutes and I really felt a connection between the generations thats hard to describe. I hope to get an opportunity to know her better, but its difficult. She lives with her sister, also a club member, who doesn't know she's gay.
I'd love to have her over for dinner. God, the stories she could tell.
Mature women rock!"
Some of the stories she eventually told were pretty outrageous and explicit (sex and drugs included) and I don't doubt a word she said!
She would not have approved of her funeral. She lived with her fundamentalist sister who often hosted her fellow "church ladies" Bobbie hated them-didn't want them "praying over me" and "blessing me". She'd flee the house (at least as fast as she could flee with her tank) whenever they showed up. She would have liked the military part of the service, though-it was awesome. "Taps" is an incredibly moving piece.
We buried my friend today and the world is a poorer place for it.
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