Mrs. Leslyn Heinlein would have been incorrect.

In fact if she had used that even as a divorced woman it would have implied that she was openly admitting fault in the divorce. (per Emily Post in 1935)

How times have changed - last month a co-worker of mine was married, and after some thought she decided to take her husband's last name as her own. At least part of that decision was made based on the very long length a hyphenated version of both names would be. She said her husband was very surprised and touched that she would do such a thing!

I think this is likely. The watercress recipe and the reference to a housewarming party are on page 44, and the poetry and the mini-biography are on p 71. I think it is likely that the poem is in a letter to the editor written as a follow-up to the recipe, and the bio is an editorial note about Leslyn. But I'd love to page through all the 1936 issues (and maybe later), one at a time, and see what else turns up.

The local library doesn't have them, however, but worldcat does show many places that do.

It's collected all over the West and southwest -- it's considered one of the fundamental culture-shapers of the last 100 years.

HERE is the house that Leslyn lived in in 1968 (1974 S Argonaut, Stockton, CA - midway between Irene and Sanchez on the far side of the street). The tavern/gas station that Jules owned and operated was at 1735 Marengo. I think this lot (now empty) was at the SE corner of Charter (name changes to Marengo further west) and Fresno. From the house, go N to Charter, and SW to Fresno.

This info comes from City Directories scanned at Ancestry.com.

And apparently Leslyn used to sing in public:

See Here

Better View

Here in Laredo in 2011, it is more likely that you refer to married women as Joe A. (Mildred) Smith, etc. (Not all Smiths are Joes, nor are all their wives Mildreds; just an example, see?) At least this is the form most often used for obituaries in the local paper.

HERE I posted part of a poem by Leslyn.

By using Bill Higgin's "Dead Sea Googling" techniques, I was able to figure out the whole poem:

Bill M., you're amazing!

The singing would have been when Leslyn was about graduation age, or thereabouts, from high school -- 18 or 19, I forget.

Thank you for the great little tidbits.

R.

Leslyn's birth registration.

I've read that RAH and Leslyn had an open marriage. Most recently I read this in the Robert James bio on Leslyn in the Heinlein Journals. Does anyone have first hand knowledge this is correct? And what about during his marriage to Ginny? Somehow I don't think she would agree to that kind of lifestyle.