ABSTRACT
My mate, William Wynkoop, and I met on a park bench in Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, on a mild winter night, December 19, 1949. I was getting over an unhappy relationship and went into the park, never realizing this action would mark the start of what is now a forty-seven-year relationship! William came along, saw me on the bench, sat down, and we started to talk. He sounded gentlemanly, was going to Columbia working on his master's in English. After about a half hour, I said, "Would you like to go have a beer at The Old Colony?" a gay bar on Eighth Street. William agreed, we had a beer, a cousin of mine came in, we talked with him a bit, and then I asked William to come back to my place on West Ninth Street. I had a small room in the apartment of a gay fellow there (we were not lovers) and that was the beginning. We hit it off beautifully, both physically and mentally.
