Partner Ricci Cortez
Queer Places:
The Roaring Sixties, 2305 S Shepherd Dr, Houston, TX 77019
Rita Wanstrom
(November 5, 1924 - November 17, 2009) was a pioneer in the Houston fight for LGBT equality.
Wanstrom, known as "Papa Bear" to her many friends, owned and operated
nightclubs for lesbians, including the 1960s-era The Roaring Sixties, located
on South Shepherd. A leading activist at a time when gay women were
arbitrarily arrested for cross-dressing if they wore fly-front pants,
Wanstrom's efforts were instrumental in having that ordinance repealed. Among
her many honors, she served as a grand marshal in Houston's 1981 Pride Parade.
Her parents owned a ranch in Bell County, TX. Her mother’s father had come
to Texas about 1910 with 90c in his pocket and 6 children. Soon he owned the
first electric cotton gin in Texas. Her parents died in 1957 in a car
accident. She married four times. In 1942 to Henry, the marriage was annulled.
With her second husband, Chris, she spent five years in an 18 room home in New
York and in a family’s summer home in New Jersey. Her third husband was Hal,
the father of her only child, Stephan. They divorced after 14 months. Her
fourth husband, Maurice, was 18 years older than her. The marriage lasted 6
months. She operated Dallas’ first private club with wide-open gambling and
for a year taught dancing at the Fred McQurne Studios. She met her longtime
partner Ricci Cortez in 1951 at the Ace of
Clubs in Dallas. Following her parents’ deaths in 1957, she moved to Houston
and took a job at Baylor University’s College of Medicine.
Wanstrom died November 17 from breast cancer and other health issues in
Austin, in the company of her son and daughter-in-law. She was 85.
My published books:
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Mae_Brown