RACHAEL EVELYN BOOTH

I have lived a life that most people can only imagine - a life in the worlds of both men and of women.  While struggling through the first of my two worlds, I joined the Navy during the Vietnam War where I became a Mandarin Chinese and Arabic linguist, also learning Spanish while stationed in Southern Spain for 4 years.  

 

During the last two years of my 9 year Naval career I got in on the ground floor of something few people had every heard of at the time - computers.  After getting out of the Navy, I worked as a Computer Scientist and Manager in Naval Shipboard Weapons Systems for 30 years.  Also while I was in the Navy I taught myself how to play the guitar and played and sang semi-professionally for almost 50 years.

 

I studied martial arts for over 15 years and was going to open my very own martial arts and self defense school called Dragonflower Women's Marial Arts untl I got waylayed by a tick bite in 2005 that gave me Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  I ended up in a coma and nearly died but recovered, albeit with diffuse brain damage that left me unable to work any longer.

 

Undeterred from my new physical limitations, I learned to ski again using adaptive equipment and volunteer to help other disabled people ski as well.  

 

I am now devoting a lot of my time to writing books and helping those less fortunate than me.  I still sing and play guitar professionally, even though it took me 2 years of hard work to regain my ability to play.  

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I live with my wife of almost 30 years in the mountains of New Hampshire and continue to speak out about LGBTQ+ rights. 

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