Transition Announcement
Dublin Core
Title
Transition Announcement
Date
1968
Subject
Description
Description of Simmons' gender reassignment surgery at John Hopkins University and her new name of Dawn Pepita Langley Hall.
Rights
This item is in copyright but can be used for educational purposes. Please contact Charleston Library Society for more information for any use not qualifying as educational use.
Format
image/jpeg
Type
StillImage
Source
Ms. 411, Dawn Langley Simmons Papers, Series 5, Folder 3
Language
English
Identifier
Ms411ser1let3
Text Item Type Metadata
Transcription
Dr. Joseph Johnson House
56 Society Street
Charleston, S. C.
You may have wondered at my long periods of silence during the past two years. Actually I have been very ill, physically and emotionally, but now, thanks to my excellent doctors in Charleston and at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore I am getting well in body and have found peace of mind. For nearly two years I steadily lost weight and strength and by July of 1967 was down to 105 pounds. There were mornings of horror upon awaking to find myself lying in pools of blood; there were other physical changes.
I had known all my life that I was not quite the same everybody else physically and so I protected myself in every way that I could. I was as unhappy with normal as much as I was with the abnormal members of humanity. I found my solace in my animals and in my socal work for the poor and the oppressed. My dear Isabel further protected me with her love. However, like everyone else I have always dreamed of a full life with a home and children.
The Lord in His great mercy directed me to Dr. Duncan Pringle in Charleston who sent me to Dr. Oliver Williamson at the Medical College Hospital in Charleston. He in turn sent me to the famed Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland where since October I have been under the care of Dr. Howard Jones. A panel of many doctors there, including one from the land of my birth, England, found that I was physically changing and by the coming summer I shall be known
as Dawn Pepita Langley Hall.
[Blank]
Page 2
Throughout my ordeal in which I was advised by the medical authorities could have led to an early grave I have been helped by my minister, the Reverend Dr. John H. Johnson of St. Martin's Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City who has given me the help that a Christian needs. For all of the two years I have had the love and devotion of Mr. John-Paul Simmons of Charleston, without whose constant encouragement I do not think that I could have encompassed such a change. With two new books coming out in 1968 I look forward to continuing my career.
Gordon
[Blank]
56 Society Street
Charleston, S. C.
You may have wondered at my long periods of silence during the past two years. Actually I have been very ill, physically and emotionally, but now, thanks to my excellent doctors in Charleston and at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore I am getting well in body and have found peace of mind. For nearly two years I steadily lost weight and strength and by July of 1967 was down to 105 pounds. There were mornings of horror upon awaking to find myself lying in pools of blood; there were other physical changes.
I had known all my life that I was not quite the same everybody else physically and so I protected myself in every way that I could. I was as unhappy with normal as much as I was with the abnormal members of humanity. I found my solace in my animals and in my socal work for the poor and the oppressed. My dear Isabel further protected me with her love. However, like everyone else I have always dreamed of a full life with a home and children.
The Lord in His great mercy directed me to Dr. Duncan Pringle in Charleston who sent me to Dr. Oliver Williamson at the Medical College Hospital in Charleston. He in turn sent me to the famed Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland where since October I have been under the care of Dr. Howard Jones. A panel of many doctors there, including one from the land of my birth, England, found that I was physically changing and by the coming summer I shall be known
as Dawn Pepita Langley Hall.
[Blank]
Page 2
Throughout my ordeal in which I was advised by the medical authorities could have led to an early grave I have been helped by my minister, the Reverend Dr. John H. Johnson of St. Martin's Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City who has given me the help that a Christian needs. For all of the two years I have had the love and devotion of Mr. John-Paul Simmons of Charleston, without whose constant encouragement I do not think that I could have encompassed such a change. With two new books coming out in 1968 I look forward to continuing my career.
Gordon
[Blank]
Collection
Citation
Simmons, Dawn Langley and Hall, Gordon Langley, “Transition Announcement,” Charleston Library Society Digital Collections, accessed April 29, 2024, https://charlestonlibrarysociety.omeka.net/items/show/1267.