at 81, granddad is grandma!

By Carol Coetzee (You Magazine)

March 22, 2006: George was devoted to his wife Mildred for 53 years – but he had a secret dream.

She flutters her eyelashes when she tries to recall something from the past and her slim fingers with red nails seem to flutter too.

At first glance this 81-year-old grandmother of six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren looks like any sophisticated, well-groomed elderly woman with a taste for beautiful clothes.

It’s only when you are aware of her history that you notice she sometimes seems to forget who –or what- she is, sitting with her legs apart or suddenly speaking with a deeper voice. But if you didn’t know you would never guess until recently Georgina Parson was a loving grandfather.

As George he was happily married for 53 years and in love with his wife Mildred. But when she died three years ago he decided to fulfil a dream he’d secretly cherished all his life.

He was already 78. “But better late than never,” George reckoned – and immediately began making appointments with doctors to set in motion the progress that would make him a woman. Lessons in speech, posture and make –up were fitted in between the medical procedures.

Today tall, slim Georgina is completely female, from her voice to her breasts and sex organs. “George died shortly after Mildred,” she says mischievously.

It was almost true. At the time of the operation on his sex organs he came close to death in a hospital’s ICU. In the process Georgina was born.

And while other elderly people sit on the stoep and dream of the good old days this grandma is like a teenager, dreaming about her new boyfriend who’s mad about her perfect 38C breasts.

In her townhouse in a popular Cape coastal village she recalls how she came to decide on such a radical change in her twilight years. “As a child I wasn’t deeply unhappy about being a boy but I liked woman’s clothes and sometimes secretly tried on some of my mom’s.”

She laughs as she recalls her mother once finding her in her corset. “I was embarrassed but my mom just laughed. The joke was over and life went on.”

As a popular young student George fell in love like any other man. Later the handsome and charming insurance agent was often acclaimed as one of his company’s top achievers.

He met Mildred when he was 24. “There was an immediate spark between us,” she recalls. “It’s difficult to explain. I had a slumbering need to be a woman but as a man I was still attracted to woman. “I married Mildred a year later and we had a wonderful marriage in every respect.”

Her eyes fill with tears. “I miss her terribly. We could talk and talk and our love-life was always good. We travelled overseas together and toured South Africa extensively in our camper. She was my best friend.”

She walks to a bookshelf groaning under the weight of family photos of children and grandchildren. Mildred is the petite brunette with soft eyes. “Here’s my daughter,” Georgina says. “She is so angry she doesn’t want to talk to me any more but my sons have accepted me.”

Then she points out her mother, tall and stately, just like Georgina looks now. “All these years I didn’t want to disappoint my loved ones,” she says. “Mildred could get terribly jealous if my eyes strayed to another woman. If only she’d known what really interested me was their clothes and jewellery!”

THE turning point came when Mildred fell seriously ill five years ago and was in hospital for four months. “It was the most terrible, most painful time of my life,” Georgina says. “I didn’t want to lose her.”

He was 76 and lonely when he went home from the hospital alone at the end of the day. That’s when he realized he could wear women’s clothes without his wife knowing. When Mildred was discharged from hospital in a wheelchair George bought the townhouse and everything returned to normal. He looked after her lovingly until her death two years later.

Four weeks later at the age of 78 George consulted a Urologist. “The receptionist saw how nervous I was,” Georgina says. “She gave me a little hug and invited me for lunch. Mary became my best friend –my mentor and advisor, the woman who would teach me all the secrets of womanhood.”

The doctor was prepared to give him hormone treatment and to remove his testicles. Georgina posed in various outfits for our photo-shoot. She called me into the room and showed me the breasts she got the day her testicles were removed. They look perfect, more beautiful than the oversized, artificial creations often seen on models.

Because of her age doctors were reluctant to do the rest. But two years later, after her 80^th birthday, Georgina went to Johannesburg where she became a complete woman. She could now have a normal love-life as a woman.  

Her cellphone rings – its’ her boyfriend. “Hello, darling,” she says in a sultry voice. I can’t talk to you now…” “It’s wonderful being a woman,” she gushes after ending the call. “It’s so nice – all the beautiful clothes. Look, there isn’t enough room in my cupboard.” She goes to the guestroom and opens the wardrobe. Besides more clothes there are several of her 40 pairs of shoes.

She has 17 handbags and a drawer crammed with scarves. Her jewellery box is full of rings, earrings and bangles. And in her bedroom there is a special shelf for make-up and creams.

She had her beard hairs removed one by one using a special appliance and she took elocution lessons to make her voice sound more feminine. But she still has to concentrate hard to speak “right”.

“My best teacher was and still is Mary,” she says. “Her first advice was ‘shoulders back and tits out’. When I battled with my high heels she told me they were meant for sitting and looking pretty, not for walking.

“We often speak on the phone, easily up to an hour because I’ve learnt to chat away like a real woman,” she jokes.

“Don’t ask what we talk about though.” Every Wednesday Georgina goes to the nearest city to have her hair done and once every two weeks she has a pedicure and manicure. Then she and Mary have lunch and chat until late into the night. Usually she goes home only the next day.

Discovering the world as a woman was a revelation “Your head simply works differently when you’re a woman.”  At ladies’ nights she discovered for the first time how freely women swear-and the intimate things they openly discuss!

She now has an amended birth certificate and is waiting for her new ID book.

“I feel like a complete woman,” a clearly delighted Georgina says. “I still battle to fasten and unfasten buttons with my long nails but I cry just as easily as a woman and lose myself in women’s magazines – I’ve subscribed to at least six.

“I love it when men open the door for me and male attention turns me into a twittering, stupid female. Best of all, help is always at hand.” she has discovered she no longer has to change a flat tyre herself. She simply bats her eyelashes, smile coyly and a strong man comes to her rescue.