Fredia Hurdle, Plaintiff in PA Marriage Equality Case, Dies Before Marrying Her Partner

Devastating news in a week already riddled with loss. Fredia Hurdle, one of the plaintiffs in Whitewood v. Wolf, the marriage equality case that won us the right to marry in Pennsylvania, passed away last week before having the chance to officially marry her partner, Lynn. More from the Pittsburgh Gazette.

The ruling meant that the Hurdles, who were together for 24 years, who were united in a commitment ceremony five years ago, and who had supported each other through sickness and child-rearing, could have their union recognized by the state they considered home.

Maybe they could get officially married in July, Lynn Hurdle thought, to mark the fifth anniversary of their original wedding ceremony. But her daughter planned to marry in October, and Fredia Hurdle said they should wait until after her wedding. It was her year, her “moment in the sun,” she told the woman she had long considered her wife.

“It’s legal. We have time,” she said.

But Thursday, Fredia Hurdle died from a stroke. She was 50 years old.

“I was looking for the next 25 or 50 years together,” Lynn Hurdle said. “It’s been shell shock.”

 

Hurdle leaves behind one daughter, Ashley Wise, and nieces and nephews that she and Lynn took in after her sister died. Our thoughts go out to them all.

Read more of the Pittsburgh Gazette‘s profile on Hurdle here.