Known for whipping up decadent outfits without patterns, Sue King is also believed to have been the first person in New Zealand to have gender reassignment surgery. Upon her passing in Sydney, friends on both sides of the Tasman are paying tribute to a woman with an elegant place in New Zealand’s GLBTI history. The opening night of Les Girls, on Fort St, 1977 Sue King was one of the mainstays of the performing scene in Auckland in the '70s and '80s, providing incredible outfit after incredible outfit for the endless shows. Auckland identity Wayne “Miss K” Otter says King was content to be one of the 'backroom' people. “She was incredibly gifted artistically, especially in dressmaking and craft work. She never worked from patterns and yet she turned out wonderful dresses and gowns for us queens over the years.” Former headlining showgirl Nicole Duval agrees. “She was one of the best dressmakers I've ever known. She was very talented. You could take a picture out of a magazine to her and say 'I'd like this' and she'd do it! She was very clever!” Otter says King did costumes for nightclub shows too, and even did wedding dresses and bridal parties for straight weddings. In fact, King designed the clothing for the wedding party of Dana DePaul’s cousin Kym Strathdee, and his wife Mary, in March 1977. He says she cleverly transferred the outfits from their imaginations into reality, without even a pattern to work by. “Sue's efforts made our woodland celebration complete,” Strathdee recalls. He'd met King while they were working at the same department store in Auckland, which was before his friend transitioned. “The 'prior-person' that I met was friendly but somewhat shy, awkward in company not it all at home in their given gender,” Strathdee rememebers. “We would all become part of the same social group. It would be a further three months until one night at the Shakespeare Tavern I met the 'butterfly revealed'. I was completely awe-struck at the transition … Gone was the shy, gone was the awkward, Sue was in her true essence.” Sue adored engagement parties - her own of course! He says King loved to entertain and friends gathered many times in her Greenlane or Herne Bay homes, very often for yet another engagement party. “She loved getting engaged, partners were dispensable, diamonds were forever!” Strathdee says she was ever-busy running up costumes for many revues in Auckland over the years, including several shows that he performed in. He says most Auckland performance stages during the 70s and 80s were completely dressed in her handiwork. “Her untrained design and sewing art was phenomenal. She made the pattern up in her head as she worked, night and day, day and night, always on a deadline to complete another show's complete costuming. “That art of hers was insatiable. Many was the time I’d visit her and if she didn't have a show's costumes to work on she'd be running up new curtains for her lounge. No two engagement parties I attended ever had the same lounge curtains. Strathdee shares a story which he says is an amazing representation of Sue's sense of humanity: Sue with her dear friend Wendy “In the 'lost property' department of that same department store worked Wendy, who struggled with chronic rheumatoid arthritis, which and crippled and dwarfed her body from childhood. She lived a very lonely and painful existence. The most she could expect from others was pity. Sue not only befriended Wendy, she made her family. Instead of staggering home to her lonely life, Wendy's eyes would be lit up larger than her hugely magnified glasses - she was going to Sue's for the weekend. She was going to have her hair combed up and Sue would have made her a brand new little gown that Sue had made to hit the town with. “And there were many little gowns. Okay, there was that time when Wendy's gown completely clashed with the new lounge curtains but it was all Aroha, love actioned. Sue single-handedly breathed life and actioned love into this otherwise sadly neglected life. They appeared everywhere together, both done up to the nines, tens and beyonds. “My respect for Sue as a human being was ultimate. There she was herself, the much deserved social butterfly in Auckland but it was still important to her to unselfishly ensure that light was shared with another little butterfly. In what is often a very self-serving community, Sue's example surely puts the 'We' back into 'We are Family'. Well done Sue!” Duval, who performed in 1970s Auckland venues such as Mojos and Tinkerbells, and at the Alfies and Staircase gay nightclubs, says King was very feminine, always dressed beautifully. “And, unusually for a trans woman, she loved gay boys as partners. She always had a gay boyfriend in tow.” Although she was very social, Duval says she was also very private, and content to be on the side-lines. “It was always a nice occasion to go to her home in Herne Bay and have a cup of tea and get fitted for a dress or costume. It was a lovely atmosphere.” King was in and out of the country quite often, moving backwards and forwards between Auckland and Sydney, where she eventually settled. Otter used to go to Sydney and meet up with her at the height of Mardi Gras. “She lived in a tower block near the bottom of Oxford Street. We would sit on her balcony and catch up. Sometimes some gay boys in an apartment block across the street would leave their curtains open and 'put on a show' for us. We would grab Sue's binoculars and give them an audience. She had quite a nutty and outrageous sense of humour.” While they lost contact for some time, Otter was very pleased to meet up with King at Carmen's funeral, and they spoke two more times after that. “I'll miss her humour and her warmth and friendliness. She was welcoming and she was fun.” Overlooking Mardi Gras Sydney friends Georgina and Annette recall moving into a flat in Oxford St in 2010, which had a great view for Mardi Gras. Not wanting to leave anyone out they decided not to invite anyone over to watch the Parade. However during drinks with a mutual friend, King arrived, saw the view and said "well I've got my place for Mardi Gras". "We looked at each other and Annette just said well it IS Sue King - nothing like having royalty for Mardi Gras," Georgina recalls. And that is how they spent each parade night.The photo on the right was taken on their balcony last year. "Sue has always been a very special person in both our lives and like many other friends' will always be grateful for the time we were able to share with her here in Sydney and Auckland." Strathdee adds he is confident King is now an angel, and is sure his cousin DePaul will have a spare overlocker on a cloud ready for her! A peaceful end King was diagnosed with stomach and liver cancer earlier this year and had been through one bout of chemo. However, unfortunately the cancer was well-progressed. She was placed on morphine to keep her comfortable. After being taken to hospital following a turn over the weekend, King died at 2.30am Sydney time on Monday morning. She had a stroke caused from a blood clot resulting in a brain bleed. She had friends and family close by. Among them was Jamie Griffiths, who says he is relieved that she passed while he was close by and without further pain and suffering. “She was such a wonderful person and I believe the first transgender male to female operated on in New Zealand, and the first Australian to have gender reassignment even before Carlotta. “She is the best costumer we have ever worked with and a wonderfully stunning friend.” Griffiths is urging those who can’t make it to Sydney for King’s funeral next Wednesday to have a drink and release some pink balloons for King. Funeral details: 11am Wed 30th October Mannings Funerals 87 Victoria Road Rozelle, Sydney Jacqui Stanford and Jay Bennie - 24th October 2013
Credit: Jacqui Stanford and Jay Bennie
First published: Thursday, 24th October 2013 - 12:50pm