Abstract:
An American Teacher: Coming-of-Age, and Coming-Out, the Memoirs of Loretta Coller documents the life, loves, and murder of a lesbian in twentieth century America. In humorous, poignant, and powerful vignettes, Southern California educator Loretta Coller (b. 1931) illumines her struggles to gain a successful livelihood, find peace with a life-partner, and overcome the silences so often imposed upon gays and lesbians. In an Introduction and Epilogue, Jon Pahl—who Coller asked to help publish her Memoirs prior to her death, sets her life story in its contexts, and narrates the circumstances leading to Coller’s murder in 1994.