Hickok, Beverly

Beverly Hickok is an author, retired librarian, and native Californian who came out as a lesbian during the 1940s. Born in 1919, Hickok was a single child raised by her mother, Adelaide Hickok, a housewife who enjoyed painting, and Clifton Ewing Hickok, a former City Manager of Alameda. In 1937, Hickok and her family moved to Berkeley, after which she enrolled at UC Berkeley. Before she graduated in 1941, Hickok began to explore her sexual attraction towards women, which eventually prompted her to leave the San Francisco Bay area. She enrolled at UCLA where she earned a teaching credential. Hickok taught for one year at a local Los Angeles high school before deciding that she no longer wanted to pursue a career in teaching. Following the advice of the renowned therapist, Evelyn Hooker, in combination with a desire to support the effort of World War II, Hickok became a riveter in the Douglas Aircraft defense plant and began to self-identify as a lesbian. In 1944, she enlisted as a member of the U.S Navy W.A.V.E.S., (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and served until 1946 while stationed in Washington, D.C. After her discharge, she used the G.I. Bill to return to UC Berkeley and earned a degree in Library Science in 1947. That same year, Hickok met Cecil Davis, the partner with whom she maintained a romantic relationship for forty-one years. By 1948, Hickok joined the staff at the Institute of Transportation and Traffic Engineering and became the head librarian of the Transportation Library at The Institute of Transportation Studies. During her 32 year tenure as head librarian, Hickok was a member of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and once served as the chair person of the Transportation Division as well as the president of the San Francisco Chapter. Hickok was essential to growing the library's holdings and making it one of the premiere transportation libraries in the U.S. She retired from her position as head librarian in 1980 and spent the first few years of her retirement taking writing and painting classes and traveling with friends. Hickok's long time partner, Davis, passed away in 1988 at the age of 75. Through her involvement in Older Lesbians Organizing for Change and Golden Threads, Hickok in 1990 met her current partner, Doreen Brand. Hickok and Brand became active in a variety of lesbian social and cultural organizations, traveled the world, and took fourteen cruises sponsored by the lesbian lifestyle cruise line, Olivia Cruises. In 2003, Hickok published "Against the Current: Coming Out in the 40s" a novel based on her life, which describes the difficult journey of a young woman coming into one's sexual identity at a time when LGBT identities were largely frowned upon socially and culturally. Later, Hickok published the photo memoir "The Life and Loves of Beverly Hickok" as a non-fictional accompaniment to her novel. In 2005, Hickok sold her Berkeley home and moved with Brand to her current home at the El Cerrito Royal Retirement residence. Hickok and Brand wed in 2008 and became plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenge to overturn the passage of California Proposition 8, which banned legal marriages between same-sex couples.

From the description of Papers, 1840-2010, bulk, 1941-2009 (University of California, Los Angeles). WorldCat record id: 710862526

Biography

Beverly Hickok is an author, retired librarian, and native Californian who came out as a lesbian during the 1940s. Born in 1919, Hickok was a single child raised by her mother, Adelaide Hickok, a housewife who enjoyed painting, and Clifton Ewing Hickok, a former City Manager of Alameda. In 1937, Hickok and her family moved to Berkeley, after which she enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley. Before she graduated in 1941, Hickok began to explore her sexual attraction towards women, which eventually prompted her to leave the San Francisco Bay area. She enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned a teaching credential. Hickok taught for one year at a local Los Angeles high school before deciding that she no longer wanted to pursue a career in teaching. Following the advice of the renowned therapist, Evelyn Hooker, in combination with a desire to support the effort of World War II, Hickok became a riveter in the Douglas Aircraft defense plant and began to self-identify as a lesbian. In 1944, she enlisted as a member of the U.S Navy W.A.V.E.S., (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and served until 1946 while stationed in Washington, D.C. After her discharge, she used the G.I. Bill to return to the University of California, Berkeley and earned a degree in Library Science in 1947. That same year, Hickok met Cecil Davis, the partner with whom she maintained a romantic relationship for forty-one years.

By 1948, Hickok joined the staff at the Institute of Transportation and Traffic Engineering and became the head librarian of the Transportation Library at The Institute of Transportation Studies. During her thirty-two year tenure as head librarian, Hickok was a member of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and once served as the chair person of the Transportation Division as well as the president of the San Francisco Chapter. Hickok was essential to growing the library's holdings and making it one of the premiere transportation libraries in the U.S. She retired from her position as head librarian in 1980 and spent the first few years of her retirement taking writing and painting classes and traveling with friends.

Hickok's long time partner, Davis, passed away in 1988 at the age of seventy-five. Through her involvement in Older Lesbians Organizing for Change and Golden Threads, Hickok in 1990 met her current partner, Doreen Brand. Hickok and Brand became active in a variety of lesbian social and cultural organizations, traveled the world, and took fourteen cruises sponsored by the lesbian lifestyle cruise line, Olivia Cruises. In 2003, Hickok published "Against the Current: Coming Out in the 40s" a novel based on her life, which describes the difficult journey of a young woman coming into one's sexual identity at a time when LGBT identities were largely frowned upon socially and culturally. Later, Hickok published the photo memoir "The Life and Loves of Beverly Hickok" as a non-fictional accompaniment to her novel. In 2005, Hickok sold her Berkeley home and moved with Brand to her current home at the El Cerrito Royal Retirement residence. Hickok and Brand wed in 2008 and became plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenge to overturn the passage of California Proposition 8, which banned legal marriages between same-sex couples.

From the guide to the Beverly Hickok papers, 1840-2010 (bulk 1941-2009), (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.)