January 15, 2002: We just learned of Stan's death yesterday in a letter from his sister Leota, who lives in Garden Grove. She will soon be eighty years old and on the day after Christmas was given the news from Windsor Gardens in Anaheim, where Stan has been under medical care for the past several years. 

     At the same time she learned of the death of a sister-in-law, and shortly after that a friend and neighbor also passed away.

     Actually Stan was lost to us some time ago. When he first went into a home for those with mental problems he still recognized June and me and Leota when we visited him. His main problem seemed to be deafness but when we managed to make him hear, he seemed to know what we were talking about and recognized the names of friends we mentioned. He kept losing his hearing aids but Leota rigged up an ear horn for us to shout into his "good" ear.

     But eventually both his vision and his hearing failed and he went downhill physically, reaching the point where he seemed to be living in his own inner world, recognizing no one outside of it. 

     Stan was born on a farm in Indiana but spent his childhood In Illinois when his family moved across the Wabash River. I'm not sure when they moved to California but my first meeting with Stan was at the 1946 WorldCon (Pacificon I) in Los Angeles, where we also met Rick Sneary.  The three of us became lifelong friends.

     Stan lived in Garden Grove, some miles south of Bell Gardens, where I was living at the time, and Rick lived in South Gate, a neighboring city of Bell Gardens. With the possible exception of Harry Warner, Jr., Stan and Rick may hold fandom's record for living at the same locations for more years than any other fan. Stan's street name and number changed once or twice over the years but it was still the same location which held a small house, a shed with a job press, a small garden, and rabbit pens.

     Due to a club foot, Stan could not serve in the military during World War II but he took on the job of air raid warden. His mother and his sister Leota both served in the WACS. His other sister, Louise, was already married and had three children.

     Like most fans from our generation he discovered pulp mag science fiction in the Thirties. His fan activity may have started before I met him in 1946 as I was pretty much fafiated during the war, thanks to the Navy and the Marines. I did have a brief letter exchange with Rick while I was still overseas but wasn't keeping up with who's who in fandom.

     Graduating from Santa Ana City College, he became a printer by trade, and indeed was one of the last of the letterpress printers. His own Chandler and Price job press  was used primarily for fannish projects as he usually worked in print shops owned by others.

     Stan was one of the original members of the Outlander Society, printing covers and sometimes interior headings for The Outlander Magazine. He was active in FAPA for quite a while co-publishing with Rick and me, as well as on his own.

     He joined the NFFF and became one of its hardest working members as well as one of its most loyal ones. He was among those who initiated N'APA, the NFFF's amateur press association, and his welcoming letters (to new members and neofans) must have been the best ever written from reports I have heard over the years.

     He and I published the 1950 Fan Directory (I as editor and he as printer) -- which included the neat layout of the booklet).  He was also official printer for the SOLACON (the 1958 WorldCon). The membership cards were printed on his Lilliputian Press. (By the way, that old press was donated to the Garden Grove Historical Society when Stan's affairs were taken over by a Guardian.)

     LASFS was always too far away for Stan to attend but he has made it to weekend OS meetings and parties in the Larea over the years, and we have had many a good time at Stan's place. He never drank alcohol or smoked but he could have as good a time at a party as the next fan and in conversations could be more entertaining and informative than many. 

     He read in many fields and had a marvelous memory. As for imagination, I have always felt that the s-f field lost a great writer because he would not discipline himself to make stories out of the host of unique concepts that he talked about to his friends. He did have a short story published in the old Astounding's Probability Zero Dept. I remember a room party at a convention where the Outlanders had invited James Schmitz for drinks and a quiet place to relax. I think the subject of the conversation was alternate worlds or something along that line and at some point Stan outlined a theory of his. Stan, as shy as Schmitz, suddenly stopped in the middle of a sentence realizing that he was doing all the talking and becoming embarrassed about it. "Good God, man, go on!" said Mr. Schmitz, "don't stop now!" I guess Stan finished his thought but perhaps this helps to show what kind of mind he had and what kind of a man he was.

     A kind man, a gentle man, a wild and wonderful thinker. I started missing him back when he was no longer able to recognize friends and relatives. I still do and I always will.

SF writer and 1974 Worldcon chair Jack C. Haldeman II (known to his friends as Jay) died of cancer on January 1. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Delaplace, daughter Lori Haldeman, and brother, Joe Haldeman.

     Jay sold ten novels and around 100 stories in his career. He often wrote in collaboration. His 1982 story "High Steel" with Jack Dann was a Nebula nominee. His first collaboration with his

wife Barb Delaplace, "That'll be the Day," was published in Alternate Tyrants. He had been a SFWA member since 1971.

     Like many other sf writers, Jay also held jobs in scientific fields. He spent seven years as a med tech in a shock-trauma unit. He worked as a research scientist in the areas of parasitology and veterinary medicine. He did field studies of whales in the Canadian Arctic. For three years he was part of a research team investigating the greenhouse effect for the US Department of Agriculture, specializing in Expert Systems and the real-time applications of Artificial Intelligence control systems. More recently, he coordinated production of a website and CD-ROM series containing over 4,000 documents pertaining to agriculture in the state of Florida.

     Jay met his future wife, Barb Delaplace, at a convention. Their acquaintance grew through Compuserve and GEnie. He wrote online, "Soon chat turned to email and then to telephone calls and cross-continent flights. Eventually we decided it was cheaper (and more fun) to get married. I think Delta Airlines stock dropped ten points when the word got out."

     Jay helped roast Gardner Dozois last Labor Day weekend at Millennium Philcon. Jay recalled that around 1971 he, Dozois and others formed a loose collection of writers who met several times a year and workshopped short stories. Dozois would bring along rambling 35,000-word story fragments. After Jay read about 20 pages he'd think, "Say, this is just great, but nothing has happened." Jay claimed that inspired his brother, Joe, to write a 4-page scene of a former President watching the sun creep across his yard - "Gardner loved it, of course. It was just like his." Many years later Joe's finished story actually sold to Omni.

     In his final days Jay was cared for at a Gainesville, FL hospice. His daughter Lori Haldeman said of his passing: "True to form, he chose a moment when nobody was looking at him -- he always did cringe at being the center of attention. He went peacefully, as the family was sitting around him, telling jokes and laughing."

     The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his name to the Hospice of North Central Florida (4200 NW 90th Blvd., Gainesville, FL 32606).

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