Rosemary Curb, also known as Rosemary Keefe, has died at the age of 72 due to complications from lung surgery. She is survived by her partner, Doris Burkemper.
I have been unable to find any more information about Ms. Curb than is mentioned in the report published today by Advocate.com (link below). However, her importance, it seems to me, is in the book she edited with Nancy Manahan, Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence, which was published in 1985. In its time, it was groundbreaking and controversial.
The book is a series of interviews telling the stories of some 50 women who were or had been Catholic nuns. The implication from these stories was (is?) that many women got themselves to a nunnery to avoid the unwanted burden of a heterosexual life or to find the space to understand their feelings.
While some of the 50 women were still living as nuns, most wre not. The reactions to leaving the nunnery seem to have varied between relief and depression.
At the time of writing, the book can still be acquired via Amazon.
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