Following the working lives of Garen and Kirk is difficult. It may be that Garen supported herself—or them—with her writing, but so far too little has been uncovered to believe that she made a living of it. Probably there is more than is currently catalogued: she wrote for magazines that had short shelf lives, for example, and on-line indexes of pseudonyms list her as having one, Milo Kirkham, a combination of her son and husband’s name, but do not connect that name to any stories.
There is a record of a Garen Drussai appearing in Los Angelese during the 1970s. The description is thin, but is likely her: she was described as beautiful, and close to fifty, which would have undersold her age a bit, and the name is so unusual that it seems likely. In two articles, The Los Angeles Times noted that she was working as a hat check girl—a distinctly out of fashion career—and writing, the two incomes supporting her through Santa Monica College, a junior college, and then UCLA, where she received a degree in English. The University of California can confirm that a Garen Drussai did attend its Los Angeles campus from 1977 to 1980 and did receive a Bachelor’s of Art.
This would fit, too, with her receiving a Masters in English from Sonoma State University: at any rate, there is a thesis by a Garen Drussai there—I have not yet seen it—titled “Tryptich,” consisting of short stories. Drussai did live her final 24 years in nearby Santa Rosa, so, again, it fits. And her death certificate says her highest degree was a Master’s. She also apparently started a business in 2000 called “Sun Maps,” which I am still investigating. According to her death certificate, she was a hotel manager from about 1996 to 2009.
It is not known what Kirk did after his job with Safeway. According to Garen, in the short talk I had with her, he went to New York, where he met Tiffany Thayer, but I have no record of that. No record of his career appears in California until 1958 when he is listed in the Palo Alto city directory. At the time, he was working for Microwave Engineering Laboratories and living in Campbell California. According to historian Staurt Leslie (“How the West Was Won”), MEL was founded in 1956 by four engineers and did research on solid-state microwave technology for the military.
In 1961, he married Noelle Curtis in Santa Clara County, California; they divorced in the same county in 1975. According to his obituary in the San Jose Mercury News and his death certificate he was a consultant for the last ten years of his life, 1981 to 1991. His last residence was Sunnyvale, California.
There is a record of a Garen Drussai appearing in Los Angelese during the 1970s. The description is thin, but is likely her: she was described as beautiful, and close to fifty, which would have undersold her age a bit, and the name is so unusual that it seems likely. In two articles, The Los Angeles Times noted that she was working as a hat check girl—a distinctly out of fashion career—and writing, the two incomes supporting her through Santa Monica College, a junior college, and then UCLA, where she received a degree in English. The University of California can confirm that a Garen Drussai did attend its Los Angeles campus from 1977 to 1980 and did receive a Bachelor’s of Art.
This would fit, too, with her receiving a Masters in English from Sonoma State University: at any rate, there is a thesis by a Garen Drussai there—I have not yet seen it—titled “Tryptich,” consisting of short stories. Drussai did live her final 24 years in nearby Santa Rosa, so, again, it fits. And her death certificate says her highest degree was a Master’s. She also apparently started a business in 2000 called “Sun Maps,” which I am still investigating. According to her death certificate, she was a hotel manager from about 1996 to 2009.
It is not known what Kirk did after his job with Safeway. According to Garen, in the short talk I had with her, he went to New York, where he met Tiffany Thayer, but I have no record of that. No record of his career appears in California until 1958 when he is listed in the Palo Alto city directory. At the time, he was working for Microwave Engineering Laboratories and living in Campbell California. According to historian Staurt Leslie (“How the West Was Won”), MEL was founded in 1956 by four engineers and did research on solid-state microwave technology for the military.
In 1961, he married Noelle Curtis in Santa Clara County, California; they divorced in the same county in 1975. According to his obituary in the San Jose Mercury News and his death certificate he was a consultant for the last ten years of his life, 1981 to 1991. His last residence was Sunnyvale, California.
