Jim Nabors, the beloved TV actor who played Gomer Pyle on 1960s shows The Andy Griffith Show and spinoff Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., has a big, happy announcement: Coming out to the media as gay, the 82-year-old star has wed Stan Cadwallader, his partner of 38 years.

"I'm 82 and he's in his 60s and so we've been together for 38 years and I'm not ashamed of people knowing, it's just that it was such a personal thing, I didn't tell anybody," Nabors told Hawaii News Now in a phone interview. The couple traveled from their home in Hawaii to Washington state — where same-sex marriage was legalized in December 2012 — and had a quiet Jan. 15 ceremony at the Fairmount Olympic Hotel.

Explains Nabors of their decision: "It's pretty obvious that we had no rights as a couple, yet when you've been together 38 years, I think something's got to happen there, you've got to solidify something. And at my age, it's probably the best thing to do."

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A judge presided over the ceremony, held in their hotel room, with a few friends present as witnesses.

"I'm very happy that I've had a partner of 38 years and I feel very blessed. And, what can I tell you, I'm just very happy," he gushed.

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