90-Year-Old Man’s Confession To His Family Kicks Off A Wild Chain Of Events

Kenneth Felts felt a wave of emotion rush over him as he sat down to begin his memoir. At 90-years old, he had lived a long life filled with enough material for a sprawling epic. But getting the words down on paper would be a bigger struggle than he thought.

Where to start the story? With so many memories to pull from, Felts realized he had a bigger issue. The question wasn’t where to begin but what to include. He had a secret he was prepared to keep until he gave his last breath.

Felts remembered all too well his strict, religious upbringing in Kansas. It came to a frustrating peak when in 1942, at 12-years old, Felts realized he was different from most other kids.

He was gay, and Felts knew coming out was impossible. He didn’t feel safe being open about it in his home, and his orientation was a secret that not even his closet friends could know. He was very much afraid of the repercussions.

As a young adult in the ’50s, Felts finally acted upon his feelings and became intimate with men, but through very careful encounters. When the ’60s came, Felts served in the Navy and became even more cautious.

In an interview with Today, Felts stated, “If you came out, it really would cost you — your family, your job, all of your relationships. You would immediately be called a pervert.”

After his time in the Navy, Felts met a young man named Phillip. It was love at first sight. For two years, they were inseparable. In another time and another place, they might have stayed together for the rest of their lives.

“It was a void in my life that had suddenly been filled by another person who, apparently, had some of the same needs,” Felts said. “And we just melted into each other.”

After struggling with his religious values, Felts realized he had to stop seeing Phillip. The decision to end things haunted Felts for all the years after, but he couldn’t see any other option.

Felts met a woman whom he married and had a child with. While the marriage didn’t survive, the bond between Felts and his daughter, Rebecca, was strong. And in the ’90s, she came out to her closeted father.

Felts accepted Rebecca with all his heart. Yet, even with this revelation, it would be 25 more years until he decided it was time to reveal his own truth.

When Felts finally came out, Rebecca accepted him like he had with her. Then a snowball effect occurred. Felts turned to Facebook and wrote a post. At 90 years old, with no turning back, Felts came out publicly.

Relatives and friends offered love and support. From the Facebook post, Felts also detailed his desire to find his lost love, Phillip. After strangers learned about it, a search was made to reunite the lovers.

In the modern digital age, anything is possible. One day, Felts found a message someone had sent to him. Someone had found Phillip, but the news wasn’t what Felts had wished for.

Felts learned that Phillip had found another love and that the pair had shared a long life together. A few years ago, Phillip’s partner had passed away. By the time the search had begun, Phillip had passed too.

Felts turned to Facebook to give an update to those who had been following his story. He vented his frustrations and pain that came with knowing the end to Phillip’s story.

Felts wrote, “It is so terribly frustrating to be so close to and yet not reach my lost love and horribly painful to not be able to say good-by. But the whole world now knows what a loving man he was with me and to me while we were together.”

Although Felts was distraught, he didn’t stop reading new messages sent to him and engaging with his new followers. Many generations within the LGBTQ community had been inspired by Felts’ story.

“A lot of them telling me that they’ve got more courage now to come out,” he said with a smile in an interview with Today, also adding, “I’m out, I’m gay and I’m free.”

Though he was 10 years shy of his milestone 100th birthday, Felts could enjoy living an authentic life at last. It had all started with his plan to write a memoir, and now it seemed there were still so many chapters left to come.