Dr. Bowers recently gave the keynote speech at the 2008 California Dreamin' conference, and she has shared her address here.

We had some bad news recently - Stacy Tessler, Dr. Bowers former assistant, has passed away unexpectedly.

TESSLER, STACY FAIR A native Denverite, passed away unexpectedly September 3, 2007, while on vacation in Florida. She was an exceptional and unusual person. She will be remembered as a loving caregiver; a talented writer, musician, and composer; a seeker of truth and enlightenment; and a lover of nature. We will miss her love, her smile, her laughter, sharp wit, and pointed sense of humor. Stacy is survived by her son, Logan, her parents Gary and Susan Tessler, her brothers John, David, Phillip, and Stuart, her nephews Jason, Jack, and Cameron, and other loved ones. Her radio listeners and numerous friends from around the world knew her by many names including, Momma, J.J. Jeffries, and "George."

Services will be held on Monday, September 10, 10:00 a.m. Shalom Chapel, 1091 S. Colorado Blvd. Memorial donations to School of the Natural Order. (www.sno.org).

Published in the Denver Newspaper Agency on 9/9/2007.

From our office and staff: "We are deeply saddened to hear of Stacy's untimely passing. She was a giving and caring person, and will be greatly missed by everyone here, and by those who's lives she touched."

Dr. Bowers recently addressed the APA in San Francisco., and she has shared her talk, Psychological Aspects of Gender Transition From a Trans-Surgeon’s Perspective, here.

Dr. Bowers recently addressed the Trinidad CO Kiwanis, and she has shared her speech here.

A public memorial service is planned for Monday, February 6th @ 7 pm. It will be conducted at the Sebastiani Gym on Animas Street. It's across from the Police Station (135 Animas) and next door to the library (220 Aminas). Parking behind the library, the public lots between Main and Church, or on the street. Both front and rear doors should be open.

A personal note from Dr. Bowers:

I found out about Dr. Biber's passing this morning, moments before entering surgery.

We had known of his ill health since he had arrived home from a cattle drive to Texas in December. Not surprisingly, at age 82, Dr. Biber insisted upon leading the cattle drive, culminating work from his 2000-head ranch. I think all of us had expected him to live on given his vitality and energy. A former pre-olympic weight-lifter, Stanley would leave his family practice each afternoon at 3 PM to lift weights and work out until the pneumonia slowed him in late December. He appeared to improve on antibiotics until declining once again just prior to New Year's Day. Dr. Biber then called his wife to say he was "not feeling too well" and asked her to bring him to the hospital.

I am devastated personally as Dr. Biber has meant so much to me personally...and has meant even more to the transgendered community. Fitting irony has it that on the night of Dr. Biber's passing that Desperate Housewives' Felicity Huffman was awarded the Golden Globes Award for Best Actress for her role as a transgendered woman in "Transamerica". It occurred to me how that honor might not have been possible had Dr. Biber not courageously altered his practice in 1969 when a local social worker here in Trinidad asked Dr. Biber, a General Surgeon and true family physician, to perform her surgery. When he asked 'What surgery?', Dr. Biber's surprise was calmly muted when the young woman told him that she was biologically male but felt herself to be female. Dr. Biber, always non-judgmental and unconditional in his love for patients and other human beings, simply sent for drawings describing Dr. Georges Burou's technique for male-to-female genital conversion. The surgery was successful and his legacy was borne.

Word of Dr. Biber as 'Sex Change Surgeon' quickly spread as his reputation for precision, reliability, safety and functionality of the surgery . Over 35 years Dr. Biber performed more than 5000 of these life-changing procedures, ending his surgery career in 2003 at age 80, though he continued to serve our local community as a general practitioner over these past 3 years. He had a swagger, a grace and a calming influence that I'll never forget. He was an anchor in this small community and will be dearly missed.

I spent 7 amazing months learning this man's trade, having myself practiced gynecologic surgery and obstetrics over the preceeding 16 years. Although it seems that the baton was passed in 2003 when I took over the surgery duties in this 'Sex Change Capital of the World', it will be many years and many surgeries before I fill his shoes in any meaningful way. Dr. Biber had a resoluteness and fairness about him that transcended this small town's objections to his controversial practice. He had a way of convincing the undecided and calming the fearful among Trinidad's residents. He blazed the way through the 70's and 80's when university-based programs were restricting access to their gender programs or closing altogether. Dr. Biber not only welcomed these patients but embraced their struggle, eventually helping found the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association. The HBIGDA organization gave legitimacy to the concept of gender dysphoria and set in place criteria by which an individual could objectively climb through the maze of decision points inherent in a 'sex change'.

Above all, Dr. Biber will be remembered as a simple townsperson and an overachieving rancher; and as someone with whom you could sit down and share a cup of coffee. His legacy as one of the pioneering surgeons of the 20th century will remain a footnote to Trinidad's recollection of him simply as 'Doc'.

Marci

Due to popular request, we have put Dr. Bowers' keynote address for the 2004 Fall Harvest online here.

We've set up a news page to post updates to the site as well as things Dr. Bowers would like to get out there.