her heart, offered me part time work at Chevalier. Another good friend asked me to move into an apartment with him, he would pay a large share of the rent, while I had furniture to contribute. So there it was, I quit my job, moved into the new apartment as Mary, enrolled in school, and started my new life.

The legal problems now had to be faced. Remember, a man does not suddenly stop living after 48 years, (without a death certificate), and a woman of that age, start living. He with no future, and she with no past. I must say here that I had been seriously thinking of sex reas- signment surgery as the only means of legalizing myself, as well as for other reasons. However, I did not want it right away, because I wanted to be sure that I could, and indeed wanted to live and work as a woman. Virginia took me to see her attorney. There were a number of questions to be answered. Time was short, because in this state, one has to take an examination to work in the field I had selected. This would come up in about six months. Then, too, something had to be done about a driver's license, this is a state document, if you lie, it is a felony charge. Was immediate surgery the only answer? The attorney suggested a legal name change, this would solve a number of problems, and would have to be done in any case.

So I had my day in Court! Dressed in a pretty blue suit, with black patent shoes and bag, and Virginia among the spectators, for moral support, I answered the attorney's questions. I can tell you that I felt very small in that big witness chair! The questions dealt with how I was living, and what I intended to do in the future, as reasons for the name change. The judge was very nice, and understanding, and he granted the name change. He also asked us into his chanbers after the hearing, for a talk. The judge hadn't heard of this situation before, and wanted to learn more about it. Believe me, he did learn more with Virginia there!

Armed with a legal femme first name, (my last name was not changed), many doors were opened. The name was changed on my S.S. account, bank and charge accounts, and other records, even church records were changed. It took a bit of courage for an introvert such as myself to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles with my license, to have the name and picture changed. There was no trouble, and they were very nice. After all, I was doing nothing wrong. However, they would change only the name and picture, not the sex designation. There is no law in this State against cross dressing in itself.

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