OREGON S GAY/LESBIAN/BI/TRANS NEWSMAGAZINE
SEPTEMBERS 2009
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SH O P P IN G ALWAYS HAS
A HAPPY ENDING AT
Ü iilö r k liliiU ü
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Espresso Bar
C ome V isit the O regon C oast ’ s
L argest A ntique M all !
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3125 NE Hwy 101
Lincoln City, Oregon 97367
541 . 994.8572
vvww.littleantiquemall.com
D arcelle (right in both
a n d his partner. Roxy.
40 /e a rs Still active in
jo in e d th e Q C enter s
im ages)
have been to g e th e r for
the Portland com m unity, they
re ce n t g ra n d o p e n in g c e le b ra tio n (left)
DARCELLE ON CREATING HIS SHOW Just Call Me Darcelle:
"It s like writing o book about /ourself, you know.
You hove to go through it. You hove to heal it. And if
you hove a hard time talking about it. then you should
talk about it!"
Darcelle’s son and his wife live next door. He and Roxy
Although he and his wife are friends now, the news was
own these three houses on the block—theirs, Darcelle’s son’s,
not well received then.
and a rental.
“It was horrible!” he says. “I loved her—I still do— but it
“My daughter lives in Gresham with the two grandkids.
wasn’t right for me. I took her life and tore it up. Then she
My wife lives there, too. We never got divorced. We got mar­
was .a single mom for a little while— I couldn’t be running
ried in 1951 and stayed married for over 15 years. Now we’re
around in a dress with kids, you know.
good friends.”
“She kno\vs that I am so sorry for the hurt I caused, but it
was better that than to continue the lying and cheating.”
At 20, years before his first pair o f pantyhose, Darcelle
was a newlywed, married to a woman, Jeannette, he loved. At
Darcelle’s kids knew what was going on. They were upset,
21, he was drafted during the Korean conflict and stationed
but throughout it all, he explains, there was love.
in Italy.
“Our bond took a vacation for a little while, but it came
back, stronger than ever.”
“It was the 1950s and it was the draft. You
didn’t blink an eye, you just went,” he states.
And now, J.R. even works for him at the
“And I went to the Italian Riviera— now you
club, Darcelle XV Showplace.
know someone must be looking out for me!”
“I talk about it all in the show,” he says of
After the draft, he returned home to his
the September 27-28 performances. “All about
wife and they bought a house in the Southeast,
my life and my family. All o f it.
“It’s like writing a book about yourself, you
where they had two children, Walter “J.R .” II,
and Maridee. Then, some 15 years after he first
know. You have to go through it. You have to
wed, Darcelle came out.
heal it. And if you have a hard time talking
Young D a rce lle
about it, then you should talk about it!”
“I said, ‘Wait a minute. My life is not this.
born W alter, d u rin g
his c h ild h o o d in
This is not who I really am.’ I finally realized that
When asked to describe his new one-man
Lmnton. O regon
I was gay—gay and happy.”
continued on p age 19
602 SE 38th Ave.
Portland, OR 97214
503.231.3922
Wed - Sat
PFIUL M IT C H ELL
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