Decorated Army Veteran Comes Out As Gay In Obituary

A decorated Army veteran came out in his own obituary following his death at 85. Col. Edward Thomas Ryan was an Army veteran, having retired with a list of honors, including the National Defense Service Medal and the Defense of Liberty Medal for “participation to the State following the attack on 9/11. He was a member of Vietnam Veterans of America and several other veterans’ organizations. He was also a retired fireman and one of the owners and founders of the radio station WHRL-FM in Albany. Clearly Edward Thomas Ryan was a tough, tenacious man.

After a lifetime of secrecy, a decorated veteran came out as gay in his obituary.

“Now that my secret is known, I’ll forever Rest in Peace,” he wrote. https://t.co/GYp2aESy6L — NBC News (@NBCNews) June 14, 2024

He died on June 1, and in his obituary published this past weekend in the Albany Times Union, there was a paragraph written by Ryan that he asked to be included. He wrote:

“I must tell you one more thing. I was Gay all my life: thru grade school, thru High School, thru College, thru Life. I was in a loving and caring relationship with Paul Cavagnaro of North Greenbush. He was the love of my life.

“We had 25 great years together. Paul died in 1994 from a medical Procedure gone wrong. I’ll be buried next to Paul.

“I’m sorry for not having the courage to come out as Gay. I was afraid of being ostracized: by Family, Friends, and Co-Workers. Seeing how people like me were treated, I just could not do it. Now that my secret is known, I’ll forever Rest in Peace.”

So, this tough, strong Army veteran spent his life in the closet because he was afraid of living his life out and proud.

A military veteran who went on to serve as a firefighter and owned a local radio station revealed in his obituary that he was gay, a secret he said he held his entire life.https://t.co/hWj7Kn5HBp

— Good Morning America (@GMA) June 13, 2024

His niece Linda Sargent told “Good Morning America:”

Sargent said her uncle, whom she called Uncle Ed and whom she cared for in his final years, spoke with her about the message he wanted to share after his passing.

“I said, ‘Uncle Ed, if that’s what you want to tell the world, tell the world that you’re gay. Don’t be ashamed of it,'” Sargent recalled. “He was a great man, and I’m just so sorry that he had to hide who he was.”

Though Ryan was close with his family, Sargent said she does not remember him discussing his private life, including his sexual orientation.

“I think his siblings knew, but it was never spoken about,” Sargent said.

Sargent said she never met the longtime partner, Cavagnaro, whom Ryan wrote about in his obituary. But she said she did hear her uncle talk in his final days about wanting to reunite with Cavagnaro after his death.

“He wanted to go home. He wanted to be with him, that I do know,” Sargent said. “He never had another partner after that. He was the love of his life.”

Why do we have Pride? So people don’t have to spend their whole lives in denial, in hiding and in shame, taking their truth and their love with them to the grave. Rest in peace, Edward Thomas Ryan.

#TheLastThing before we go: Resting in peace.

A decorated Army veteran comes out as gay in his obituary pic.twitter.com/mvGo8M3F5Q — 11th Hour (@11thHour) June 14, 2024