[1] Allen's school lasted only a few years — she was not paid, and she often used her own money to prepare students' meals — but inspired a hit play, Charm, by Philip Dawkins.

The eldest of eight children, her mother was Alma Dixon, a showgirl and former Jet magazine centerfold.

She transitioned before Stonewall with the support of her mother Alma and her grandmother, Mildred, a seamstress for crossdressers and strippers.

I picked up from that and I learned a lot from the older generation, how to dress, how to socialize with them...They watched over me.

In 2021, she received the Carmen Vázquez Award for Excellence in Leadership on Aging Issues from SAGE, an advocacy organization for L.G.B.T.Q.