TRIBUTE TO A DEAR FRIEND

Virginia

This short note of mine and the two sad tributes which precede it are about a dear friend of mine, a girl (and man) whom many of you knew, and many did not, yet as Marilyn and Maureen have said much more eloquently than I, she exemplified so much of what these pages over the years have tried to teach. She had really achieved self accep- tance and comfort with herself. It wasn't always so. I met Sheldon and his wife Gail (and Annette) way back in 1960. They hadn't been married long and they were in the throes of marital adjustment to each other and to Femmpersonation as so many of us have been. They sought the help of myself and my then wife. We rendered what we could to them and I guess it helped because the marriage continued, produced two wonderful children and produced many, many friends both FP and otherwise. I would be unfair and in a sense dishonest to paint a perfect picture of domestic bliss. These two people were human and as such they had their differences, their trials and tribulations but they also had each other, a family, a host of friends and a great deal of appreciation, admiration and respect from all who knew them. These are the things that count.

For those who don't know but who happen to have copies of TVia No. 5 stashed away somewhere, get it out and look at it. Annette was our first Cover Girl - way back when. Compare the pictures then with the one at the head of these memorials. It is easy to see the growth, the acceptance and the openness that developed in those years. I never ceased to marvel at the way in which she had proceeded with her FP life in a small town where she was known to a majority of the people. Probably everybody did not know of the Annette behind Sheldon, but plenty of people did and accepted Annette as just part of Sheldon. He was so "up-front" with it all, so disingenous and so relaxed and self accepting about Annette that even those who might have been moti- vated to disapprove or condemn found it very difficult to do so. The parties at the home of Annette and Gail which have been written up in past issues of TVia were very unique social experiences. With all of the rest of us running in and out of the house, his children and his employees and various friends from the town came up to say hello or to do business and the presence of the rest of us, some readable and some not, just didn't disturb anybody. Sheldon had made the matter

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