A picture of my older brother Louie at the foot of Mt. Shasta. He has been a logger for nigh on 40 years and loved his work. Bruce, his favorite, and the youngest of his two sons, died when his tractor overturned on the side of a hill–he was 22. Louie became an alcoholic and had very painful arthritis. He died about four–maybe five years ago. Of course, he was homophobic like everyone else I knew when I was a young man.
However, the minute he died in his eighties I received a call from his eldest son Charlie, who I had never met. In a trembling voice he told me he thought he was TRANSGENDER. Over the last five-six years he has visited me from Mt. Shasta and I gave him strong support for finding out who he really was and is. Charlie came to my birthday party as a woman but it took her a long time to come out in Mt.Shasta. He joined A.A. in Mt. Shasta and after a year or so he started going to A.A. meetings for women. They loved him. Now he struts down the main drag in all of his 200 pound glory of a woman and he is accepted by the community. He told me he had been a controlling very angry man. Two weeks ago he had breast implants and I just received an email–he’s coming to visit me tomorrow to show off his boobs. Oh, I forgot to mention–he has been a logger for a long time and still is. I’M VERY PROUD OF MY NIECE.