Why "LoiS with the big S"?

Fellow storyteller and friend, Mary Garrett, near my hometown of  St. Louis, MO once introduced me as "LoiS with the big S", to which I looked at my backside and said mischievously, "I beg your pardon?!?"  There's a story there and here it is.

Visit Mary's website

Mary knew many people in the storytelling world have seen me sign an email or wear a shirt with a LoiS on it.  In the case of emails I love to play with my "big S", adding parenthetical comments.  LoiS(imply loves to find ways to make one last comment!)  For many years I had the long 12 letter last name of Sprengnether.  It was a great way to tell if a phone call was from somebody who knew me as no telemarketer ever seemed to know how to pronounce it!  Then there was the writing of such a long name when signing lots of papers.   LoiS became a short personalized way to write it.  Then I met "my Keel in life", Tom, the best husband I could ever have.  I asked for advice on what to do with my name on Storytell, the international email list for storytellers now hosted by the National Storytelling Network.

I wanted to recognize Tom, but didn't want to lose the fun of being "LoiS with the big S."  At the same time, with 12 letters already, I didn't want to hyphenate it.  Definitely no hyphenation I was told or I'd have to use it all the time, turning it into 16 letters + a hyphen would become my legal name.  YUCK!  Shades of the Hispanic female tradition of linking the "original name y new married name."  Too long.  The suggestion was made to just use that long name as my stage name.  Yes, it might be a preservation of privacy, but that wasn't what I was seeking.  Then it was suggested, why not use a very old traditional way where women often made their old name their new middle name?  That way I could at times just be Lois Keel and at other times "LoiS with the big S."

YES ! ! !

O.k. I confess it lets me be a bit wicked at times when somebody's about to introduce me, asks me "How do you pronounce your last name?" and I smile and say, "Keel."

Of course Tom, who now is my "roadie" for many of my gigs -- especially ones where he gets to play a bit of banjo -- loves to accuse me of marrying him just for his short last name.  Definitely not true.  As I said, he's my Keel in life, my soulmate.
LoiS(o now you know the story, but tomorrow I want to start sharing stories twice a week with you and tell you why I'm about to sign myself...)

LoiS(abbatical)