Senator Patty Murray honored Vashon resident Joe Krumbach with a Golden Tennis Shoe Award last week. Murray gives the awards every year to “everyday heroes,” people who make a difference in their communities.

Earlier this year, after a prolonged legal fight, Krumbach became the first known gay person in Washington to have his marriage retroactively recognized by the state and the Department of Veterans Affairs and receive survivor benefits because of it. His husband, Jerry Hatcher, a decorated Vietnam veteran, died in 2008.

The awarding of the benefits — provided to survivors of military members who die on duty or are disabled for service-related reasons — came after a two-year fight that included legal assistance and help from Murray’s office.

“I was very surprised and a little overwhelmed,” Krumbach said, about learning he would receive the award.

A staff member from Murray’s office called him two weeks ago, he said, and told him that he had been nominated several times and that he would be one of three people to receive the award, bestowed March 21 at the Washington State Convention Center.

The call from Murray’s office came five years to the day after his father died, he said, adding that his father had not come to his 2003 wedding to Hatcher. They timing was noteworthy to Krumbach.

‘I thought, ‘Wow, maybe he was saying I was wrong,'” Krumbach said.

When he and Hatcher married, they did not care what anyone thought, he added, and had no idea that their marriage would lead to a prolonged legal fight, their bond’s retroactive legal recognition — or the award given in front of some 1,400 people.

“I was a little emotional,” he said. “I never want it not to be emotional.”

After receiving the award, Krumbach addressed the crowd and said Hatcher was the last person he acknowledged.

“He has been my silent partner in all of this,” he added.

Vice President Joe Biden was at the luncheon, which was also a fundraiser for Murray. Afterward, Krumbach met Biden one-on-one and called him “friendly, genuine and amazingly personable.”

Krumbach added that his legal battle to have his marriage recognized was always about the principles involved and righting a wrong — not about him.

“I am just a vessel for this,” he said.

The two other recipients of the Golden Tennis Shoe Award this year were Gary Kennison, who, after his daughter was murdered by her estranged husband, helped lobby for a state law requiring family notifications when a confiscated firearm is returned to a potentially dangerous owner, and Cheryl Senson, who overcame drug addiction to become an advocate for the needy and now heads the nonprofit Jubliee Women’s Center in Seattle.