Transvestia

up as best they could. I was not expected to live for the first 6 months, and the doctors would predict a very bleak future for me after each operation. They would tell me that I would be a helpless cripple the rest of my life, with no chance of improvement. Two things happened while I was in the hospital that were to be major factors in my decision to live the rest of my life as I have. The first event was a wheel chair parade sponsored by the American Legion. This was in conjunction with the Rose Parade held annually in Portland. In this case the patients of the hospital were to participate in it.

Prizes were awarded for the most colorful decorations and the most original idea. With the help of three American Legion volunteer ladies, I entered the parade as "Rosie, Queen of the Hospital". They rented me a wig and donated the proper feminine attire required to make me look like a Queen. With their help I decorated my wheel chair with artificial flowers to look like a throne. The day before the parade one of the ladies plucked my eyebrows a little and polished my fingernails. Needless to say, I received a lot of ribbing, but it was good natured and all in fun. The day of the parade they helped me dress in the feminine clothes and made up my face so I looked like a real girl. Much to my surprise, I won first prize and my picture (dressed as a girl) appeared the next morning on the front page of Portland's leading newspaper. This gave me quite a thrill and produced no bad remarks or reactions from anyone who saw the parade or read the newspaper, although I did acquire the nickname of "Rosie" for the rest of the time I was in the hospital. This was constant reminder that I had passed as a girl successfully. Even though they knew I was a male and I was regarded and treated as such by all persons I came in contact with.

The second event was that, my wife had started divorce proceedings after the doctors told her I would be 80 to 90% disabled for the rest of my life. My being in a Veterans Hospital forced her to wait until I was discharged from the hospital before she could file the divorce papers and start court proceedings on me. When I was discharged from the hospital I went to live with my father and brother while she filed for divorce. She took everything, house (paid for), car (also paid for), bank account (around $15,000) but she was unable to take the one thing I valued dearly, my TV tendencies. To anyone else

9