Beverly Hickock

Profile: Beverly Hickock

Everything changed when I turned thirteen. I developed a huge crush on my teacher, which is par for the course. … [She] was sort of like my mother, who was warm and funny. And she knew I had a crush on her. The atmosphere at school changed, and then all my girlfriends became interested in boys. And I had no interest, at all. My best friend, Sue, now we are in high school. … And she found a boyfriend. … We had been inseparable; now she had a boyfriend and I was left out.

Herstory description:

Subject: Beverly Hickock
Date of Birth: October 1919
Place of Birth: San Francisco, CA
Age at Interview: 83
Death: 2014
Date of Interview: May 2003
Interviewer: Bea Howard
Place of Interview: Berkeley, California
Transcriber: Lorna Ellis
Length of Transcript: original, 12 pages; OCRed text, 12 pages; ~ 5000 words
Contract: Unconditional
Contract Dated: 05/15/2003
Support documents: 27 pages; copies of photos
Separate Supports: copy of her book, Against the Current; Coming Out in the 40s by Beverly Hickok; ISBN 1-4134-3546-7

Abstract:
Growing up in the 30s, Beverly always had crushes on girls but didn't understand what she was feeling and there were no books or organizations to turn to. When she was in her senior year of college, she had a sexual dream about a professor and it all became clear. After a false start in the field of teaching and a stint as a riveter during World War II, Beverly served as a WAVE in the Navy. She then went back to school and got a Master's degree in Library Science. With degree in hand, Beverly was given the opportunity to essentially start a library from scratch for a new department at a university. She stayed there for 32 years. When Cecile (Beverly's partner of 41 years) died, she decided she was too young to go without a social life. She became involved with several organizations and met her the woman with whom she has been partnered since 1990.

Sample page from Bev's transcript

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