RIP: Jack Speer

[gerisullivan]

The news is spreading 'round: Jack Speer died earlier today. On the Virtual Corflu, I heard he was doing poorly and had been diagnosed as terminal; I'm glad he and Ruth were able to attend Corflu Silver and help it shine.

Joe Siclari and Edie Stern told me my very favorite Jack Speer story just few minutes after it happened. The last day of Intersection (the 1995 Worldcon in Glasgow), they had the joy of seeing Jack jumping up and down in the Bouncy Castle that was set up in the exhibit hall. I so wish I'd seen that for myself! We ran 3 photos of Jumpin' Jack next to the GoH tribute Joe and Edie wrote for the Noreascon 4 souvenir book, so I can at least look at those in delight and appreciation.

In 1996, Jack was typically one of the last visitors to stop by the L.A. Con III fan lounge late at night. And he stayed up later still -- I remember him standing, listening to the filkers in the lobby as I was making my way back to my room sometime around 3 am after both closing and cleaning up in the fan lounge one night.

More recently, I had the pleasure Jack and Ruth's company during the drive to the Dead Dog dinner at County Line BBQ at the end of last year's Corflu Quire in Austin. That was the last time I saw him, and I'm glad it included some real conversation.

Sigh.

Sympathy to Ruth and the rest of the family, including his fannish one.

Geri

Comments

[wouldyoueva.livejournal.com]

First I've heard this, and I'm at Midwestcon! I'm glad he got his GOH finally.

I will raise a glass to him tonight.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Oh, so sorry to hear.

Jack always kept me on my grammatical toes when I was in FAPA.

My favorite photo of Jack.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Neat!

I don't think I knew he'd been in Washington.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I've heard a lot about him. I'm so sorry.

[profgeek.livejournal.com]

Nice tribute, Geri. The listservs have been buzzing all afternoon about this. A little while ago I texted Chris Garcia with the news; he hadn't heard yet. He's at a fannish barbecue party in the Bay Area, and said he'd pass along the news.

Corflu Quire was the only time I really had a chance to chat with Jack and Ruth, and I was struck by his gentleness. He will be missed.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Yup, Jack would've jumped up & down in a Bouncy Castle, much as he climbed several feet up the trunk of a palm tree at SilverCon. During the years I saw him occasionally, his body was never young (he was, after all, about eight years my senior, and an Elder Ghod of Fandom even when I was but a Neo), nor was his mind, but his heart and his spirit retained the best aspects of being child-like.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

Oh, crumbs. I am sorry to hear this, but thanks for the news.

Our First(?) Fanhistorian

[ceemage.livejournal.com]

A reprint of Up To Now had only just recently been made available on efanzines.com.

And then there's the Fancyclopedia...

Re: Our First(?) Fanhistorian

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Yes, there's the Fancyclopedia. I even have a real one of those for sale. (And, yes, I still need to create an actual sale list of the most interesting stuff. For various values of interesting and most likely heavily informed by my own sensibilities of what I'd want to buy if I weren't me right now.)

[maureenkspeller.livejournal.com]

I met Jack Speer when I was in Australia for the last Aussiecon. He was supposed to join us on a trip to visit John Bangsund and at that point we had not met him; we saw what we thought was him running for the train as it pulled out, and sure enough, when we went to the Geelong station an hour after our own arrival, to retrieve Jack Speer, it was him.

We had a wonderful afternoon, though he seemed quite bemused by my preoccupation with Buckley Falls, which John was kindly indulging, and then the three of us travelled back to Melbourne together, enjoying the spectacular people-watching opportunities afforded by the train. I particularly remember him at one point catching my eye as we all tried to pretend we couldn't hear the very loud woman several seats over, discussing her life in exceedingly unnecessary detail, and the two of us looking at one another, daring each other to laugh. Which we did the moment she got off the rain.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Sorry. Just sorry.

[nwl.livejournal.com]

He will be missed. Another of First Fandom is gone. We had a great time with him and Ruth at Noreascon.

I was wondering, do you know of any storytellers in fandom who tell stories about fannish history? It's sad that so many younger fans don't know the stories of fandom.