Nancy Hunt - Mirror Image

1978, English, Nancy Hunt,

Full title: "Mirror Image: The Odyssey of a Male-to-Female Transsexual" by Nancy Hunt.

Nancy Hunt (1927-1999), born Ridgely Hunt, was an American reporter and copy editor. Before her transition, she was known for her service in the American army in the Second World War and her negative comments about hippies and women, but something changed in the late 1960s when she started to grow her hair long and wear makeup. In the next years, Nancy, as a man, got married twice but her marriage ended when she underwent gender reassignment surgery. In the early 1980s, she married Wallace Bowman.

"Nancy Ridgely Hunt Bowman was born on February 1, 1927, in New York, New York County (Manhattan), New York, USA. Nancy Hunt Bowman worked for 21 years as an editor and writer for the Chicago Tribune and won awards for her work as a foreign correspondent covering the Vietnam War under the byline Ridgely Hunt. She died June 21 at a seniors residence in Bonita Springs, Fla., at age 72. Mrs. Bowman was the widow of Wallace R. Bowman Sr. In 1978, she wrote and published "Mirror Image," a detailed account of the sex-change operation that enabled Ridgely Hunt to become Nancy Hunt. The book was written from a feminine perspective and only mentioned her earlier identity in an oblique way, noting that the male journalist she used to be had worked as a popular feature writer for the Tribune."

"She grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Yale University with a degree in English literature in 1950. Ridgely Hunt served in the U.S. Army infantry during World War II and with the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. Ridgely Hunt started newspaper work by writing for small weeklies in Connecticut and later for the New Haven Register. He moved to Chicago and worked for five years as a copy editor for the Chicago Daily News before joining the Tribune in 1963. Ridgely Hunt handled some of the Tribune's most dangerous assignments, covering the Vietnam War as a combat correspondent. In 1969 he won the Tribune's Edward Scott Beck award for that coverage. He also won four Associated Press awards for the Vietnam reporting."

"As a writer for the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, Ridgely Hunt wrote on topics ranging from sailing trips off the Florida Keys to studies of city Catholic schools. In 1978, after her sex change, Mrs. Bowman told the Chicago Sun-Times: "I feel good about womanhood. For 49 years I looked into the mirror and saw an image distorted by the crazy lens of masculinity. Now I'm content with what I've got." She retired in 1984. She passed away on June 21, 1999, at the age of 72, in Bonita Springs, Lee County, Florida, USA. Nancy was laid to rest at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Sturgis, St. Joseph County, Michigan, USA."

Available via A Gender Variance Who's Who

and goodreads.com

and findagrave.com

Photo via findagrave.com