Marilyn Berman, Local LGBT Author and Former Professor, Dies at 76 Years Old

Alpharetta, GA (June 30, 2015) – Marilyn Berman, local LGBT author, died on Sunday due to the return of a brain tumor. She was 76 years old.

Marilyn received her PhD in 1969 from the University of Michigan. She later became the supervisor of speech language pathology at the VA Medical center in Atlanta and taught part-time at Emory University.

After her retirement, Marilyn, having her own unique perspective to offer LGBT youths, served as the first director of a Jewish-sponsored help center for the LGBT community. Growing up gay at a time when homosexuality was not only illegal, but considered a mental illness, Marilyn never revealed her true sexuality to her parents before their death. The weight of this regret fuels a core theme of her memoir, Traveling the Two-Lane, published earlier this year. It was through the release of this memoir that Marilyn was finally able to truly share her story with the world, only months before her passing.

Marilyn’s memoir begins with her sitting in rush-hour traffic, slowly inching down the road. At that moment, it dawned on Marilyn that she had also been inching through life. She decided to make the journey of her dreams—a long vacation, a year or more alone in a van. She spent months preparing to escape her settled home and habits, and, in June of 2004, she got on the road. Destination: Alaska.

A lifetime of memories accompanied her. For decades, she led a dual existence, trying to be “normal” while fantasizing about women. Driving the two-lane back roads of North America, Marilyn grappled with her ever-present past and an uncertain future. Traveling the Two-Lane is the story of these two journeys—a solo sojourn across North America and a lifetime navigating as a closeted and conflicted lesbian in a world with changing opinions about same-sex love.

Traveling the Two-Lane is available now in print and eBook through Amazon.com, Shop.BookLogix.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and www.TravelingtheTwoLane.com.