The Loss of a Trek "Superfan"

[dreadpiraterose]

A few months ago, Star Trek lost one of it's most dedicated fans: Joan Winston.

The NYT has two nice articles about her, and her contribution to Trek fandom and especially conventions: Articles

Did anyone ever have a chance to meet her? I had no idea she had had so much impact on Trek conventions. I suppose it was because she was active before my time.

Sad to think we have probably taken these Trek conventions for granted. For someone like me (age 25), they have just always been there.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

I started a thread about her a while back in the Trek Lit forum. Some of the guys there had fond memories of meeting her. I suppose the thread is still available -- just search on my name or her name (I can't recall the title of it right off).

Sir Rhosis

 

[Dayton Ward]

I only got to meet her once, but she was a doll, and I had a hell of a lot of fun talking to her. I've even dedicated my next Trek novel to her memory:

IN TRIBUTE
Joan Winston
(June 19, 1931 – September 11, 2008)

You knew it all along, Joanie, but Star Trek does indeed live.​

 

[Tulin]

I clicked on this thread HOPING it would be about Joannie and, for once, my faith in human nature was not misplaced.

I read her book in 1983 and it is what made me become a ST fan.

I have read it SO many times and have SUCH fond memories of it.

In 2000 I began an email friendship with Joannie and was thrilled to be communicating with such a kind and loving person. She was a doll and I will miss her.

 

[M'Sharak]

I started a thread about her a while back in the Trek Lit forum. Some of the guys there had fond memories of meeting her. I suppose the thread is still available -- just search on my name or her name (I can't recall the title of it right off).

Sir Rhosis

Or, from your profile, click on "Find all threads started by Sir Rhosis".

http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=57752

 

[dreadpiraterose]

I clicked on this thread HOPING it would be about Joannie and, for once, my faith in human nature was not misplaced.

I read her book in 1983 and it is what made me become a ST fan.

I have read it SO many times and have SUCH fond memories of it.

In 2000 I began an email friendship with Joannie and was thrilled to be communicating with such a kind and loving person. She was a doll and I will miss her.

Thanks for sharing. What is her book called?

 

[dreadpiraterose]

I started a thread about her a while back in the Trek Lit forum. Some of the guys there had fond memories of meeting her. I suppose the thread is still available -- just search on my name or her name (I can't recall the title of it right off).

Sir Rhosis

Or, from your profile, click on "Find all threads started by Sir Rhosis".

http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=57752

Thanks for the link.

 

[Trekwatcher]

Reading about those first cons, it just seems like a totally different era. I did not start going to cons until the mid 1980's, but I bet those first few must have been just over the top.

 

[Pinkle]

Holy smokes!

"Elyse Pines, a friend of Ms. Langsam’s, proposed a gathering specifically for “Star Trek” fans. A mutual friend brought in Ms. Winston, who used her show business contacts to secure films of 15 “Star Trek” episodes, a blooper reel and the presence of Roddenberry. She also requested a few moon rocks from NASA.“I just assumed that a day or two before the event the mailman would bring us a little postal package full of moon rocks,” she later told Mr. Shatner. Instead, NASA dispatched a trailer truck with two tons of memorabilia that included a genuine spacesuit stuffed with a mannequin astronaut."


That's freaking awesome.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Thanks for sharing. What is her book called?

Joan Winston wrote several chapters of "Star Trek Lives!" (with Sondra Marshak and Jacqueline Lichtenberg) - in which she describes visits to the set of TOS - and then wrote "The Making of the Trek Conventions" by herself, and was editor of the hilarious "Startoons", a collection of cartoon panels parodying TOS and the SF media community.

All are highly recommended.

 

[dreadpiraterose]

Thanks for sharing. What is her book called?

Joan Winston wrote several chapters of "Star Trek Lives!" (with Sondra Marshak and Jacqueline Lichtenberg) - in which she describes visits to the set of TOS - and then wrote "The Making of the Trek Conventions" by herself, and was editor of the hilarious "Startoons", a collection of cartoon panels parodying TOS and the SF media community.

All are highly recommended.

Ahh cool. I'll have to look those up.

 

[Balthier the Great]

Holy smokes!

"Elyse Pines, a friend of Ms. Langsam’s, proposed a gathering specifically for “Star Trek” fans. A mutual friend brought in Ms. Winston, who used her show business contacts to secure films of 15 “Star Trek” episodes, a blooper reel and the presence of Roddenberry. She also requested a few moon rocks from NASA.“I just assumed that a day or two before the event the mailman would bring us a little postal package full of moon rocks,” she later told Mr. Shatner. Instead, NASA dispatched a trailer truck with two tons of memorabilia that included a genuine spacesuit stuffed with a mannequin astronaut."


That's freaking awesome.

Totally. Though I'm not much into cons. I've been to a few and people take themselves way to seriously. But I would like to see the monn rocks.

 

[dreadpiraterose]

Holy smokes!

"Elyse Pines, a friend of Ms. Langsam’s, proposed a gathering specifically for “Star Trek” fans. A mutual friend brought in Ms. Winston, who used her show business contacts to secure films of 15 “Star Trek” episodes, a blooper reel and the presence of Roddenberry. She also requested a few moon rocks from NASA.“I just assumed that a day or two before the event the mailman would bring us a little postal package full of moon rocks,” she later told Mr. Shatner. Instead, NASA dispatched a trailer truck with two tons of memorabilia that included a genuine spacesuit stuffed with a mannequin astronaut."


That's freaking awesome.

Totally. Though I'm not much into cons. I've been to a few and people take themselves way to seriously. But I would like to see the monn rocks.

I know a ton of very laid back con people. The few super serious intense ones give the vast majority a bad rep.