How does one write a fanzine about death and the alive & the dead: or my not make it depressing? heroes have always been That’s the question I’m asking and mortals answering in this issue. I mean, it’s not like we’re by christopher j garcia all going to be able to make this a light and fluffy issue, the topic is death after all, but it’s A few years ago, one of my comedic that kind of death that Dias de los Muertos is heroes passed away. His name was Mitch based around. Memory, tradition, a tinge of fear, Hedberg. He was one part observationalist, and deeper understanding. Death is tough, but one part Surrealist. He was an amazing guy, an it’s still not as hard as comedy. addict, but a hell of a performer. My favorite This issue was brought about when of his gags was “I have a pet shark, his name is two events happened at the same time. The Dave. Last week, he ate a guy. I really should first was the death of Captain Lou Albano, a invest in a leash.” The delivery, completely wrestling manager about whom you’ll read impossible to duplicate on the screen, was more in a bit, and the realization that my own cadenced and strange, adding to the humor father was exactly the same age, to the day, as via a route of bizarrity that is rarely attempted Michael Jackson was when he died. It was a day because if it fails, it seems as if you’re trying to of revelations and then the Brad Foster cover, suck. In many ways, he was the son of the kinds the magnificent piece that greeted you when of comedy proposed by Stephen Wright on one you logged on to eFanzines.com today, sealed hand, George Carlin on the other. When he the deal, though it’s a month + later than I had was alive, there the was the thought that one hoped and intended. should worship him, should come and behold I’m happy to have Gregg Trend send me him, born the king of comedic angles. an article that I think is pretty darn good, and And then he died. of course there’s me all over the place. This led to a realization: that when he Of course, even if I’m working on an was alive, he was a star, untouchable, a shining issue about death that’s not depressing, I spent perfection. His death turned him into an addict, a fair amount of time thinking about people a victim of his own excesses all of which we who have passed, and then in the middle, Alex, guessed at during his life, but left uncommented a fine human being who I only met a couple upon. He became flawed and missed. We cursed of times but is married to Johanna, who has him, perhaps because we didn’t know what appeared in these pages a few times, passed he had going on, though we all knew that it away of exactly the same cancer as my Dad. eddie guererro- 1967 - 2005 was there in his material. He told us he was Those things happen, and no matter using, though subtly and with that rising smile how it works, you have to cry., at least a little. throughout the gag that made you think that he So, here’s an issue that’s about death. I’ll was making it out of whole cloth. He wasn’t an try not to mourn out of key. addict, at least not anymore, he’s simply a guy who maybe once had a habit, who maybe once before the Franklin, but his was both much There is no one who is as widely a in a while liked to light a pipe or tap a vein, improved and much cheaper to manufacture hero as an inventor as Franklin. Steve Wozniak, who maybe liked to party. Then he died, and he and purchase. I’ve always felt a strong attraction Lee Felsenstein and Ralph Baer are all close, became the addict he probably always was. to his methods, his sense of humor, his absolute inventors of amazing things in the areas of Michael Jackson had been the butt of intelligence both as inventor, writer, pundit, and electronics, but none are Franklin. Funnily, Ron jokes for more than a decade. The jokes were most of all, wise-ass. Reading up on him, you Popeil, the infomercial King had gave us Pocket harsh and hid a wheel of distaste that Dante realize that he had a great deal in common with Fisherman and the Showtime Grill, is probably would have held only for the like of Judas some truly terrible monsters. For example, closer, but has not he gravitas. In fact, almost no Iscariot and the betrayers of Julius Caeser. We he fathered a couple of kids out of wedlock, one does. Franklin was long-dead and heavily have legitimately the most reviled of monsters: remembered for his stuff, something that may a pedophile, a fairy-tale creep, the troll under where are the people happen to Woz or the like after he passes, but the bridge waiting to sink his teeth into some in birmingham? where not yet. serious lamb. And then his death transformed A pair of heroes show the differences. him, turned him into one of the most amazing are the people in Writer Hunter S. Thompson and TC Boyle. performers of our time, a man to be mourned birmingham? where Both of them essentially describe the American by millions, a creative force whose work was are the people in experience. The sides they each show are without equal in his time. This was a switch in birmingham? gone to fiercely different, neither of them the true the minds of every viewer which was switched bury their dead. America of you and me, but neither of them so when his heart stopped. It was a powerful all dead by the far as to not show us what is true. Thompson moment which changed everyone. is a God, with all the baggage that goes with And that led me to think of my other fronteir fucking wives. it. His stories are tinged with his suicide, his heroes. There were dozens of men and women and one of them, the one he referred to as his memory sent into a greater sky when they shot who had shaped who I am, how I go about ‘little bastard’ was a Royal Governor, and he his ashes up with fireworks. Boyle is a master things Some of them are alive, and all of were mercilessly rode him about his allegiance to of a craft, a man who can tell you more about alive at some point, and those that have died, the Crown. He also womanized, which was to our lifestyles in a simple story like Jubilee or I realize, are so very different than those who be expected, and often lied to cover his tracks. The Road To Wellville than almost any other are still alive. The point came home to me very Yes, he struck an early blow for woman’s rights writer. He is over-looked, passed over in favor pointedly when I started a look into the life of with his series of articles about a woman who of writers whose prose turns on a dime, but Ben Franklin. was being punished for having children out of then he’s latched on to with all the fervor of a Ben Franklin was who I would love to wedlock and her going before a magistrate and grad student ripping into the lyrics of American be. In some ways, he was the Bill Rostler of his saying that the men had just as much to do Pie. The thing is, if you replaced the drugs days…minus the porn films. The man wrote, with it as she did, but it’s also been suggested with the self-importance, the two are almost more often for the sheer paycheck of it all than that he himself had been accused of such things interchangeable, their voices almost echoes most of that time, and he was an inventor who and he was simply writing what he knew. After of each other off the granite walls of a shared changed the general way of life for just about some serious digging, many people loved him, valley. The dead one, he is the legend. The living, everyone. His Franklin stove was a magnificent but everyone had a note about something merely a master. achievement. Yes, you could get effective stoves Franklin had done that was less that sagely. Among fans, there is much the same. Harry Warner will always be my greatest Fannish Hero. Longevity, perfection, consistency, these are people who Now, some background is necessary. For everything I can never achieve. He was gone died, died. these are some years, Mrs. W had been interested in before I started doing my zine and there has what I would call “self-determination” in end- been a glow around him as long as I’ve been people who died, of-life matters. She had been a strong believer doing The Drink Tank. Arnie Katz, my friend died. they were all in DNR (“Do Not Resuscitate”)orders and who is very much alive and whose Vegas my friends and they Power of Attorney in hospital car matters. Fandom Weekly is obviously the most powerful The week end after Thanksgiving in 1993, influence on Drink Tank, doesn’t have that glow died! Mr. W died after suffering for 2 1/2 years about him because he’s still here. Maybe it takes people who died by from the migration of prostate cancer (into the period to make the sentence final, but no james carrol nearby bone, etc.) Mr. W, like most men of his one, not even Earl Kemp whose fanzines are generation never had a prostate exam. He was better than anything I could produce, manages dr. kevorkian & me: close born in 1912. He was cared for at home in the to achieve that status. encounters of the weird last six months of his life, until it was too much Maybe that’s why they only make you a kind for Mrs. W, even with much help from relative, by gregg trend friends & Monica, the only daughter who still lived in Michigan. The last time I saw Mr. W, he It was a Dark and Stormy Night. was under opiate pain-killer maintenance and No kidding, it really was. hallucinating about dead friends and relatives. It was a day in early December, 1997. However, he still enjoyed watching the small TV We (my late first wife, Monica & I)received (that I bought for his special use)by his bedside. a phone call from my mother-in-law’s neighbor, Even before that Mrs. W had been a Mary E. She told Monica that she had seen a member of a regional group similar to the strange car parked in front of Mrs. W’s and two Hemlock Society, and had written to various strangers in long storm coats with large attache publications advocating assisted death. She cases go into Mrs. W’s house. A medium hard had written to the governor and members rain and blustery winds prevailed (oh, our of the state legislator to get a law passed wonderful Michigan Decembers!) making assisted “suicide” legal She had resigned Oddly, enough Monica had planned to from our Congregational church because the drive over to her Mom’s after getting some minister believed that action was unchristian. documents from our home (about 4.5 miles (She briefly joined a Unitarian church.) She away.) Monica had to do over-time work (in ceased donating money to the local public TV her capacity as a psychiatric social worker)that station because of PBS programming sponsored evening, and so was later than she expected to in part by the Robert Wood Johnson be in arriving at her Mother’s house. Foundation which supports “right-to-life” Monica’s mother had turned 82 just the advocacy groups and groups that are against week before. assisted death. mitch hedberg- 1968 - 2005 In the months before her assisted death, ringing the door bell of the W. residence (in the Mrs. W asserted she would never be like Mrs. W stopped driving so I would take her to still pouring rain.) They received no response. that! her doctor’s appointments. It was after the Mrs. E. came out and gave them the key (she Monica was allowed by the police to view first of these and a long conversation about her had a spare to the W’s front & side doors in the body in the living room before CSI people (then) philosophical attitude toward assisted case of emergency.) They entered, telling Mrs. E. came to get the body (Mrs. W was cremated death that I asked her internist if he thought to stay out. per her instructions. There was a very she was of “sound” mind. He, a man of Indian Mrs. W. was collapsed on the couch and appropriate memorial service on 20 December background, said she was very mentally stable, some large pillows. Pinned to one pillow was 1997 at her old church. Over 100 people but he couldn’t understand why she didn’t think a note on Dr. Kevorkian’s stationery and a turned out for it.) that the drug course she was taking wasn’t disclaimer form signed by Mrs. W, the Dr., and Mrs. W’s assisted death turned out to good enough (she had circulatory & nerve his retired psychiatrist associate. There was be one of the Dr’s last services. It was in damage.) She hadn’t spent any time in the also a large envelope with contact information the major local papers. Some of Mrs. W’s hospital in decades, except for foot surgery. and some legal documents, plus a final message neighbors allowed interviews by newspaper and She had been very physically active but had to Monica. TV reporters. It was on all the “11 O’clock” to slow down because of the aforementioned news programs. Monica and I refused to make problems. She felt she had lived long enough. i wish you’d known me any comments other than “This is what Mrs. W Of course, Monica and I believed that although when i was alive, i was a wanted. We have no personal opinions about she was very independent, the loss of her this incident nor about Dr. Kevorkian’s work.” husband of over 55 years was probably more funny feller Now, you may be wondering what do depressing than she let on. But, again, after god’s comic by elvis I really think, now? I sincerely believe Dr. testing and consultation, her internist told me costello Kevorkian was performing a good service. He she was not clinically depressed. didn’t talk anyone into doing what wasn’t what Another major thing I had to do a few I knew that Mrs. W had been they truly wanted. It was just illegal according months before she died was to take her to a corresponding with Dr. K. for some time. She to Michigan law. Although John Kevorkian was lawyer who specialized in property to transfer allowed me to read this correspondence. I told interested in some things that Nazi doctor’s the family home to Monica without heavy her that if that’s what she wanted it was her researched, he didn’t think like a Nazi. He tax consequences. I was interested in this decision. She mentioned that she couldn’t see didn’t believe in euthanasia, per se. Yes, he particularly since Monica & were getting “old” how my mother (who had bladder cancer, was looked a bit strange (probably due to his & recently had visited an attorney for estate undergoing dialysis, and died of septic shock ascetic life-style). I’m sorry he had to spend all planning. I had thought those documents from infection through the connection portal those years in prison. This was mostly because Monica had had something to do with Mrs. W’s for the dialysis)could live like that, confined to a of the pseudo-Christian, authoritarian attitudes estate (they did.) wheelchair for most of the day, with care-givers of some county prosecutors and pseudo- Just after the first phone call from the (on day & night shifts) helping her get through Conservative, pseudo-Christian legislators neighbor there was a follow-up: Mrs. E. said daily living. She was 80 1/2 when she died. I (mostly hypocrites) who promulgate a fake that there was now a Detroit police car parked said my mother had many intellectual interests code of ethical behavior. in front (the mystery car had left about 1/2 and didn’t miss being physically active. She was Mrs. W. convinced me she was reasonable hour before that.) Two police officer were “OK” with what she had to put up with and and Dr. K was righteous in his work. wasn’t in too much discomfort. We should all be able to decide how our life ends by ourselves. i wish you’d known me when i was alive, i was a Two people close to me have funny feller committed suicide. They were not terminally god’s comic by elvis ill. They arranged they activities the last day, hour so that I or others close to them could costello not prevent them from carrying out their the captain willful act. So their effect on those who loved by christopher j garcia them is permanent. Their act, though it ended whatever “intolerable” psychic pain they were It is fair to say that some suffering, will always hurt the ones that still ticketing agent changed the face of wrestling. loved them and still hold them dear. It was someone at a terminal putting people next to each other that led Captain Lou Albano to get a seat next to an up-and-coming rock star by the name of Cyndi Lauper. She wasn’t a major star yet, she had a semi-successful album, but she was obviously about to go big time. The large gentleman in the seat next to her told some great stories. Captain Lou constantly told stories, especially when he was drunk, which according lou albano- 1933-2009 to a great many stories others told about him was funny. After that, Captain Lou was in her was quite frequently. He impressed Lauper videos She-Bopp and Time After Time and enough that she remembered him and when Goonies R Good Enough. In the Goonies video, it came time to make the video for her first a bunch of other wrestlers appear, including big single, she cast him to play her father. Her Roddy Piper, The Iron Sheik, Classy Freddie break-through video was Girls Just Wanna Blassie, The Fabulous Moolah, Nikolai Volkoff, Have Fun, one of the most played videos of and Andre the Giant. I think Wendi Richter was the 1980s. I remember when that video was in there too, somewhere. Oh yeah, and Steven big, MTV pretty much played Girls Just Wanna Spielberg, but that’s neither here nor there. Have Fun followed by 99 Luftballoons, then Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Footloose, before Mark Goodson or Martha Captain Lou was a big part of the world of Quinn came on and babbled about something. WWF wrestling. In the Northeast, he was Captain Lou was what everyone remembered probably the biggest managerial star. ever He about it, the way he wagged his finger at Cyndi was a legend even by 1983. Vince McMahon Jr. andy warhol- 1928 - 1987 and then got himself put in a hammerlock. It had taken over from his father not too long before and Captain Lou’s popularity in the When I sat down with him in 1998, he said he charisma and there’s Fat Guy charisma. He videos led to Vince using that connection to remembered watching the late 1940s wrestling could talk to anyone, he could make anyone bring in Cyndi Lauper to be a part of a feud on the DuMont Network and that he loved the love him just by telling them any of his large file between Wendi Richter and the Fabulous talking of Gorgeous George and the wrestling of stories. He once impressed a taxi driver so Moolah and Leilani Kai. Captain Lou brought of Argentine Rocca. Most other sources say much that he brought him home to his family her in and it turned into a huge deal which that it was while he was in the Army that he just to introduce him to them. I always thought landed the WWF on MTV in what was the started following wrestling. Albano himself said that he stole that story from Martin Bubber, highest rated show in the history of the such in some interviews. So which is right? but maybe not. He would do the talking for fledgling network. In fact, it was the highest Probably both. the Heels, the villains who came to town from Cable Rating ever up to that point. It ended Albano landed in Montreal, one of hte other territories where they were working. up turning everyone involved into major top towns for wrestling in North America at He would adopt some aspect of the personas mainstream stars. Well, everyone except for the the time, and started his training. He wasn’t he managed. He’d wear the ceremonial robes women who were facing off with each other, a top-flight athlete, but he was an athlete, as when managing sneaky, salt-throwing Japanese which is weird. Wrestling’s hottest mainstream Dave Meltzer so perfectly put it. He competed wrestlers or a bear hat when managing phase was started by that feud, which gave throughout the 1950s and 60s, slowing down supposed Russians. This was his way and it them momentum that they took and turned and finally retiring in 1970. He worked with drew people in. into the first WrestleMania. And it happened, Vince McMahon Sr., the top promoter in the at least partly, because Captain Lou Albano sat Northeast, and as a part of The Sicilians, a next to Cyndi Lauper on an airplane. Mafia-themed tag team with Tony Altimore. Sadly, Captain Lou passed away on the The story goes that Tony and Lou were really 14th of October at the age of 76. good at playing the Mob angle, even mimicking More than any other wrestler, Captain some of the gestures made by real Mafioso. Lou is a series of stories. He was a guy who After a few weeks, the team were confronted told stories, hundreds of wonderful stories. by mobsters. Real Mobsters. I’ve no way of I’ve heard hundreds of stories from fans and knowing whether it’s true or just a cover all over various publications. Much like Robert for why the two of them left the Midwest so Evans of Paramount, all the stories are true… suddenly, but Albano told the story more than especially the lies. once. In fact, two of the three times I talked to Captain Lou Albano was born Louis him he told the story. Vincent Albano in Rome, Italy. His family left After his story as a wrestler was when he was young and settled in Mount winding down, he was put as a manager Vernon, New York. He did his thing growing because he could still talk like the best of them. up, went to University of Tennesee, but then It was around 1970, and Vincent McMahon Sr. enlisted in the Army for two years. That led started using him as the manager of various Captain Lou to discover wrestling. wrestlers. He was an exceptional talker, This is a point of contention with two amazing. He had charisma, Fat Guy charisma. of the stories I’ve heard told about the Captain. This is a powerful weapon. There’s skinny kid freddy blassie- 1918-2003 There were two other major managers, when i heard Ernie Roth was one of them, a long-time manager for the Sheik in Detroit, came to New There are times that I can’t remember. York and became The Grand Wizard, leading I don’t know where I was when the Challenger people like Superstar Graham and Stan Stasiak. blew up, but I remember exactly where I was There was also Freddie Blassie. The three of during the LA Riots., th eday that I heard them were the biggest managers in wrestling in Andy Warhol died, the night that I watched the 1970s (OK, maybe Bobby Heenan was as Eddie Guerrero win the World Heavyweight big, but he didn’t make it to the WWWF until Championship. I have no clue as to where I was the 1980s) and Albano was the last survivor of the day I found out my Dad had cancer, but I that golden age. can tell you the seats I had for The Goonies. Many who grew up with WWWF Memories are funny like that, but I remember wrestling will say that Albano is a much bigger one thing almost every time: where I was when reason for the success of the Federation than I heard a long-standing fan died. he gets credit for. The Lauper connection, his These are the moments that I’ll always managing the star Tag Teams, his appearances in hold on to, when the news of terrible events the Main Stream all set-up the massive invasion phil lynott- 1949-1986 made me stop for a simple moment. for guys like Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan and others. His appearance as Maripo on the Super Bill Rotsler – (1997) Mario Brothers Super Show also helped, and “according to most I was away from fandom, for the most though he was a pain in the ass for McMahon studies, people’s num- part. I hadn’t been to a con since the 1996 Sr., even he recognised the importance of ber one fear is public WorldCon, I hadn’t done anything really fannish Albano by keeping him around. in a couple of years. It was fair to say that I I met him three times, each time getting speaking. number two is was GAFIAted, though I’d not have said that. some lovely conversation about the various death. death is number Fandom is a State of Mind, so I was always a fan. wrestlers. He told me how he’d get stabbed two. does that sound I was checking the various websites that had coming down the aisle with his evil Tag Teams right? this means to the addicted me, even then, when I came across and how he once had to be pulled off a fan a note. It said that Rotsler had died the night who stabbed him. He told the story about the average person, if you before. time he wrestled in the snow, outside, when go to a funeral, you’re I remembered his cartoons. I the promoter of the show didn’t pay the arena better off in the casket remembered his fan art from various and he was afraid that a riot would break out. than doing the publications. I remember that Dad would ask He even told the stories of what happened me about him every time I saw him. Dad never when he got extra drunk and that led to bad eulogy.” thought I was away from fandom, so he always things. He was the kind of guy who thought jerry seinfeld asked after the guys he knew. that stories were their own reward, which is I can’t say what my reaction was to the rule I run my life by. the news, but I remember where I was: in my bedroom, sitting in the rolling chair that to have gotten to spend as much time around section, I was shocked to see his name listed. constantly got stuck on the edge of the plastic them as I have. Losing Jack, the one I’d probably I instantly went into search mode. There laid under it. There was a bowl of Dinty Moore hung out with the most, that was a blow. was no other note of his passing. No one had Beef Stew at my left hand. I don’t think I ever When I found out Jack Speer had died, posted anything about Bob Tucker passing finished it. it was a 90 degree day, in Richmond, beneath a away. I went to every website I could find and lemon tree, the sound of old friends gathering nothing mentioned it. According ot the rest of Jack Speer- ( 2008) inside instantly bringing back the thoughts of the world, he was still alive. I was meeting Linda’s friends. It’s hard what it is we do on the first day of a con. But I felt different. to explain why I get so nervous meeting people For some reason, I knew that it was from Linda’s circles of friends. I mean, I knew, true, that he had actually passed away, and I and still know, precious little. We’ve never done instantly started writing a short biography the big dump of information, and in my eyes, of him that I gave to the Silicon newsletter, it’s for the best, because we’re both making which was merely an hour away from going to the most of our time, seeing that we’re lucky press. Before the SFWA notice that confirmed if we get a full day every other week with one to much of the world that Bob had actually another. I was meeting her group of friends died (and a few hours after at least one of the from her days at Esprit, which was a group mailing lists had been passing around news of that had been friends for about 20 years. I was his death), the Silicon newsletter, a con Bob holding her hand tight as we entered the BBQ had never been to and a con where less than we were attending with them, a semi-annual 10% would have had any idea who he was, gathering that was their major reunion point. announced it to the world. Tom Whitmore My phone rang. It was John Purcell. I let heard it from that newsletter, as had a few it go to voice mail because I thought it would others, which was a sad way to hear it. be rude to be the new guy, yammering away I found out Bob Tucker had died while on his cell phone at the party. Still, I am always bob tucker- 1914-2006 I was checking my mail before heading back to glad to hear from John, so when Linda needed Silicon for the rest of the evening. I was facing to run inside to get something, I called my the small nook between my bedroom and the voicemail. Bob Tucker (2006) bathroom. I took at least a moment to stare “Hey-ya, buddy, John Purcell. Just wanted at the pile of fanzines that had collected in the to see if you’d heard about Jack Speer.” I never met Bob Tucker. I doubt he ever space between the screen and then wall. At that point, I hung up and called him. read a single word I ever wrote. I doubt he’d Jack had died that morning. He was have much cared who I was, honestly, but I had 91. He was one of the all-time legends and he a connection. This was a guy who was famously Bruce Pelz (2003) was dead. John probably knows how much I’ve a hoaxer and was often hoaxed about. I’d read “Chris, did you hear that Bruce Pelz taken to heart from First Fandom. Jack Speer, Le Zombie, knew about Hoy Ping Pong, and died?” R Twidner, Forry, Harry Warner, all of them. knew that Arnie Katz considered him one of I really hear a phrase like that at work, They’re my heroes and I consider myself lucky the all-time greats. And so, the day I went to but Leo had been an LA fan during the 1970s Wikipedia and opened up the “Recently Died” and he and I would talk fandom once in a while. Tank. It was a rather sad moment. I started I’ve ever been about a panel was one where I He was sitting behind the desk, making sure working on a new issue of The Drink Tank at was supposed to be the moderator with Forry that the guest who dribbled in throughout the that very moment. on the panel (he ended up taking ill and not day were informed of all we had to offer. I was at my desk, staring at the showing) “When did that happen?” computer screen that I’d surrounded with I had talked to Forry several times on “Not sure, I just found an eMail from a stickers over the years. the phone and at a few cons as well. buddy.” I had been awake for a half-hour, had I was standing on the spot where the taken my bath and was checking my eMail. gritty tile gave way to the dirt-worn carpet of I spent ten minutes thinking about what I the former Navy Exchange furniture showroom was going to say about him, but then packed that we’d turned into a showroom for the up and went to work. Sometimes, only the history of computing. mindlessness of work can take my mind off everything. rich brown (2006) Some days, it’s almost better to stay Ann Green (2008) in the office. The world was hot, and I didn’t I had been following Steve green’s posts have air conditioning. I had been staying over about Ann’s condition since the beginning. It at Gen’s Dad’s place, watching Leo, the diabetic didn’t sound good, and there were a lot of Pomeranian, and without air conditioning, moments of hope, that were often followed the location on the edge of a mountain made by comments of how things had gone back to the 95 degrees feel like a couple of hundred. worse, and finally, to worst. My heart broke for I drove into work early, and settled down to Steve. eMail. Ann was one of the best memories I The Timebinders list had sent more forry ackerman- 1916-2009 had from my TAFF trip and when they did the than one message, which was rare. Forry (2009) display of names of people who had passed rich brown had died. I’d been lied to before. Locus had away in the previous year, Linda gave my hand I had a minor push-around with rich the reported the death of Forry Ackerman pre- an extra squeeze. She can always sense when prior year over a piece in The Drink Tank about maturely. I had posted that he had died after I’m on the verge of tears and that was a his piece in an issue of eI. These things happen, reading it a few different places. He was my moment where I was really close. When you and rich had supplied some short pieces for me ultimate fannish hero, after all, and so it was have a sad memory tied up with some of the since then. He was a good guy, and I was happy hard. happiest memories, it’s not easy. to few exchanged a few more eMails with And this time, there was no question it I was at home, having just managed to him over the year. I think I’d heard from him was true. get my internet working again. I remember a couple of days before, and I went searching Forry was, in many ways, my hero. He’s putting my computer aside and getting my Mac through all my eMails and found that he’d sent the reason I got into the museum business so I could write my favorite memory of her a brief message about the recent issue of Drink because of the tour he gave 10 year old Chris from my trip. and his family back in 1984. The most excited