River Malcolm and Christine Downing of Orcas Island were legally married on July 7 in Berkeley, California. The couple renewed their vows in the presence of 25 friends and family members, and for the first time received the legal sanction of the state of California for their marriage. River’s sister, Judy Malcolm, performed the ceremony in the garden of the home of Chris’ sister, Hanna Alger.

The couple’s first exchange of vows took place on September 2, 1984, in their home in Del Mar, California, where they lived for one year prior to the ceremony and for the first ten years of their married lives. On their tenth anniversary they moved to Orcas Island, settling in the home in Orcas Highlands in which they’ve lived for the past 14 years.

Chris will continue each fall to teach at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California, where she serves as a founding member of the doctoral program in the Mythological Studies, and also teaches in the Depth and Clinical Psychology programs. She is the author of 12 books, including “The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine,” “Myths and Mysteries of Same-Sex Love, “Psyche’s Sisters,” and “The Luxury of Afterwards.”

River, who published her first book of poetry, “The Mother Poems: A Daughter Wrestles with a Difficult Love,” in 2007, will continue her private practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist on Orcas.