Published: October 24, 2009 12:01 am      

Licensed to love: Couple’s marriage made legal – 49 years late

WILMORE — Frank and Betty Skrout are finally married – 49 years after they tied the knot.

They have proof: A court-stamped, court-recorded marriage license.

“Everything’s fine now. Everything is beautiful,” Betty Skrout said from their Wilmore home.

The Skrouts were married Oct. 6, 1960, by the late Rev. James Feehley at St. Bartholomew Roman Catholic Church in Wilmore. They set up housekeeping and went to work – he as a steelworker and she in area sewing factories – and they raised a family.

The problem surfaced earlier this year when Betty learned of pension benefits she was eligible to receive through the International Ladies Garment Workers Union because of her days at factories in Johnstown, Windber and Portage.

She needed documents to reflect her status change and her married name.

A trip to the Cambria County courthouse brought a surprise: The certified license for the Skrouts did not exist at the office of the county register of wills.

In an official sense, they were not married, Register of Wills Patty Sharbaugh said.

The “return of marriage” document completed by the priest performing the wedding ceremony was never sent to the courthouse as required by law.

The good-natured Skrouts joked at the time that they have been living in sin for nearly a half- century, and Frank Skrout teased that he was about to adopt the ways of a single man.

They even talked of paying another visit to St. Bartholomew and marrying again, just to make it legal.

Joking aside, the problem could potentially be a serious one, Johnstown attorney Randi Silverman had warned. A second marriage could create problems in proving the first union and letting the issue go unresolved would result in problems when one of the Skrouts would attempt to claim survivor benefits, she said.

Enter the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and spokesman Tony DeGol.

After learning of the snafu, DeGol enlisted the help of the Rev. Charles Bodziak, who heads the parishes at Wilmore and St. Agnes in Cassandra.

In a search of records, Bodziak came upon the incomplete Skrout marriage license and forwarded it to Ebensburg.

“Apparently everything’s been taken care of,” DeGol said.

Mary Little, first deputy director in Sharbaugh’s office, said Friday that all of the documentation has been completed.

“We do now have a record of their marriage,” Little said.

Speculation that other marriages from that time in the Wilmore area may not have been properly filed has not been confirmed, DeGol said.

“No one else has come to him (the priest) with a complaint,” he said.

The initial Tribune-Democrat story reporting on the Skrouts’ situation sparked a lot of reaction.

“We did get other inquiries. We got several calls from people worried they were not married,” Little said.

Most of the inquiries were from people married at St. Bartholomew, she said.

Meanwhile, Betty Skrout said having the proper paperwork in place has made no difference in the relationship.

“Nothing much has changed,” she said.