RANSVESTIA

perience that took all the confidence and calmness I could muster. There would have been no way to survive this unforeseen turn of events had I not had a passable voice and experience in using it. I still shop in her store and she always greets me warmly as Mrs. Warfield.

The first time I used a ladies rest-room I ran into a gabby mother and her 5 or 6 year old daughter. The little girl watched me touch up my make-up and before I was finished both of them were telling me about themselves, requiring appropriate responses from me. What could have been a disaster turned out to be another confidence- building experience, only because I was prepared with a passable feminine voice.

There have been a number of other experiences like this but one last winter was perhaps the most satisfying. Coming home from the FPE meeting on a snowy night a police car stopped me just as I was about to start down a hill. The officer came over to my car and ex- plained that the hill had become so treacherous that they would have to make me wait 5 minutes or so while they got it sanded. Since I was first in the line of cars he stood there by my partially opened window, swinging his red flashlight and chatting with me the whole time. When finally it was sanded he thanked me, bid me good night and waved me on. You can imagine the outcome had I not had a passable voice.

In 1971 I went en femme to the St. Patricia weekend party that the Lambda Chapter held at Portland, Oregon. This was my first trip. as a woman in an airliner, and my first experience as a woman with taxi drivers and in registering at a motel. Each step was thought out in detail and prepared for ahead of time and all went smoothly. I always carry a kerchief and ultra-lightweight rainwear folded up in my purse; it paid off on this trip as well as on several later occurience: by saving my wig and clothes in high winds and heavy rain.

My wife was aware of my increasing public life as Maureen. She knew from being with me at the FPE meetings that I was safely passable and she did not object as long as I limited my activities to once a month and stayed out of trouble. However she felt apprehensive at times as to how I would handle an emergency such as injury in a car accident while dressed. To put her mind at ease on this I obtained a letter of explanation from a psychiatrist that I had gotten to know through arranging medical seminars and television shows for Virginia on her trips to Denver. I always carry the letter in my purse but so far have never had to use it.

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