One of the best rooms at LoneStarCon to sit back and watch the convention was the
fan lounge, a gathering place for fans of all eras. At previous worldcons the fan
lounge was the place to meet prominent fans like Don C. Thompson, Bob Shaw, and Sam
Moskowitz. They are gone now, and we've all been diminished by their passing; the
unfortunate truth is that the list of those absent is getting longer all the time.
We're closing this issue with a three-part remembrance of another prominent fan who
will be missed... Joni, They Hardly Knew Ya' by Mike Glicksohn  When my friend and fan
extraordinaire Joni Stopa passed away at the end of 1996, the two fannish news
sources I rely on to maintain my tenuous contact with fandom (Ansible and
Apparachik) reported on her death in a single sentence. I thought that was
sad, but understandable. It's quite possible that neither Dave Langford nor Andy
Hooper ever had the good fortune to meet Joni. Which was most definitely their
loss but that's what the growth and diversification of fandom has resulted in.But Joni was too good a person and
too important a contributor to fandom to allow her passing to be encompassed in a
single sentence. At least, she was in my eyes...I'll leave it to others to document
the impact Joni had on science fiction fandom in general but I venture to guess that
there are literally tens of thousands of fans who've been active over the
last four decades and/or who are active today who owe a great debt to Joni Stopa
even though they may never heard her name.For it was Joni who helped Bjo
Trimble establish the first Art Show held at a science fiction convention and it
was Jon and Joni Stopa who, through their participation as award-winning
contestants, judges and organizers, helped raise the Worldcon Masquerade to its
current position as one of the three major spectacular/extravaganza events that
delineate our annual gathering.Had Joni not been there to
establish the ground rules for two of the most important events in fandom's year,
someone else would undoubtedly have done so. But the simple historical fact is
that every fan who simply enjoys looking at or buys artwork at a science fiction
art show or participates in or enjoys watching a masquerade owes a nod of thanks to
Joni Stopa.But I'm not here to write about
Joni's influence on fandom-at-large, large though that may be. I'm here to pay
homage to Joni's influence on fandom-at-small...or at least "short"... Short, that
is, as in me. And, through me, a small but I like to think not insignificant
part of today's fandom.Fandom being the way it is, I have
no clear memory of when I first met Joni Stopa. But it was undoubtedly in the
early-to-mid `70s and she and Jon were undoubtedly considered by most active and
knowledge fans to be BNFs. Since we were fellow residents of what was some years
later to be known as "The Wimpy Zone", we probably met at a Windycon or a Minicon
or possible a Midwestcon. And since Joni and I shared a love of fandom, parties,
booze, parties, conversation, parties, fanzines, and parties I doubt it took long
for us to become friendly fannish acquaintances.Over the next twenty-five years we
became friends. Not close friends, which is odd considering the profound influence
Joni had (and still is having) on my life, but good friends. Two people who
respected, liked and admired each other, always enjoyed each other's company and
spent many dozens and possibly hundreds of hours in enjoyable (if frequently
somewhat inebriated) conversation.We met at conventions all across
the midwest, at occasional worldcons, and Jon and Joni once visited me here in
Toronto. But many of our most memorable encounters took place at the Stopa's
beautiful house amidst the vast acreage of the ski-lodge they managed in southern
Wisconsin, at the eventually-legendary annual Fourth of July party known as
Wilcon.Wilcon 20 took place in 1982 so
apparently the first party was in 1963, a little over two years before I even knew
such a place as Science Fiction Fandom ever existed. By the time I attended by
first Wilcon, number 14 in 1976, the Stopa's annual
"come-if-we-ask-you/pay-and-work-if-you-want-to-come-back" picnic was the stuff of
fannish legend.In winter, Wilmot Mountain was a
ski resort. In summer, it was a party animal's wet dream. Acre after acre of
rolling hills, grass, trees, even a lake, with the mountain dominating the skyline,
a ski lodge with a full professional kitchen a few minutes walk from the Stopa's
large and beautiful home, all supervised by two of the most charming and generous
hosts any party could possibly hope for.And the guest list (most or less
invitational but whatever the criteria for inclusion were they weren't all
that difficult to meet) was pretty well a Who's Who of mid-west science
fiction fandom and prodom which made for a very big, very crowded and very
enjoyable weekend-long gathering of many of the most enjoyable and interesting
people I've met in over thirty years as a fan.This is, I'm afraid, not a history
of Wilcon. If it inspires someone to write one I'll be delighted. But the eight
years during which I was a regular attendee at Wilcon's -- which went on, in
various forms, for many years after circumstances forced me to stop attending --
coincided with one of my "wild and crazy" periods of being a fan so what memories
remain to me of my many enjoyable hours at Wilmot Mountain are suspect indeed...
But I'll always remember smoothing
with Bob Tucker on the enclosed porch, poker games with the likes of Joe Haldeman
and Gordie Dickson and Phyllis Eisenstein on that same porch, playing "air
hockey-poker" with Bill Habel and Suzi Stefl on the very same porch (don't ask!),
chasing frisbees all over the tent-covered lawns with Ben Zuhl (and watching Madman
Riley running into large trees in his single minded pursuit of said plastic
disks), scaling Wilmot Mountain to enjoy an intimate moment with a fellow fan and
wondering if my deliberate scream of "Rosebud" reached Tucker at the house below,
the time I tossed one thousand dollars in traveler's checks onto the poker table
just in time to hear a (very young) Phil Foglio at the low stakes table right behind
me cry out, "Five cents! You're raising five cents!", Joni rendering me
speechless with the gift of a bottle of Chivas Royal Salute because in her eyes I'd
done her a favour by treating her as a normal person, working the breakfast and
lunch and dinner work-crews all three days of the weekend to make up for
keeping some people at the thirty-eight hour poker table the year before so they
missed their work shifts and, of course, watching Madman make an important point by
thrusting his hand vehemently into the air...right into the fully operational
overhead fan.I attended eight straight Wilcons
from 1976 to 1983 and every one was a wonderful party and a memorable experience.
I learned to put up with the up-to-twenty cats Joni could have any given year, with
Madman getting up at six in the morning and waking up the many fans sleeping in
tents all around the Stopa house by cranking up the stereo and blasting hard rock
through Jon's magnificent speakers. I learned to enjoy helping those who knew how
to cook or helping clean up after sixty or seventy always-hungry fans had descended
like locusts on the ski lodge dining room. And most of all I learned to enjoy being
with fans I liked to party with and learned to appreciate how important it is to
maintain contact with the people you love (or even like.)So in 1980, in a blatant steal from
Joni's Wilcon, my dear friend Michael Harper (whose parents had the good sense to
give birth to him at the end of May just eight days after my own birthday) and I
decided to invite our friends to a fannish party in Toronto at the end of May. And
since the name 'Torcon' had already been used but we still wanted to follow Joni's
convention for naming a Damned Fine Fannish Party, we decided to call it 'Mikecon'.
(Because neither of us had a house that could accommodate around twenty sleeping
guests or a couple of hundred acres of land where people could pitch tents or a
full-sized commercial restaurant/kitchen to call upon, our party was substantially
different in style from Joni's. But in feeling it was the same, and over
the next few years the guest lists overlapped more than just a little.)Later that same year I attended
Wilcon 18. And just two weeks ago (as I type) Mike and Mike held Mikecon 18
and a few of us who are old farts and have long memories got together for a quiet
moment and raised a glass and toasted Joni Stopa and acknowledged that if it hadn't
been for Joni we might not have been there roasting a pig and playing cards and
drinking beer and talking abut every subject under the sun and enjoying being with
our friends, many of whom happen to be award-winning science fiction fans and
writers but so what, they're still nice people.That's the sort of person Joni
Stopa was. By caring for people and by giving of herself completely without
restraint she touched the lives of all those who knew her and a great many who did
not.Most of the people enjoying a
worldcon masquerade don't know what they owe to Joni. Many of the people having
fun at a Mikecon don't know that it all comes down to Joni. And that's just the way
Joni would have wanted it.But *I* know what a debt I owe her
and so do all the people who ever attended a Wilcon or went to a party she and Jon
had at a convention or attended a wedding held at Wilmot Mountain or received a
care package from her or benefitted from her amazing and unexpected generosity.
(There are still remnants of jars of jam Joni gave us in the cupboard and every day
Susan looks after plants grown from bulbs Joni sent us just weeks before she died
and some of the empty bottles that sit on the plate shelves in our living room some
from Joni and will be there for Mikecon 20 and 25 and 30 and...)Fandom would not be what it is
today were it not for Joni. And my life and my fannish history would be very
different from what they are were it not for her.Which is why a single sentence
could never encompass all that Joni was or all that she gave to the fandom she
loved so much. - - - - - - - - - -
Tribute to a Dear Friend by Martha Beck It is very hard to write about
someone who was so close and important in out lives. Joni was more than a dear
friend for thirty-four years -- she and Jon and Deb became family.My husband Hank and I were very
fortunate that Jon and Joni came to see us in September 1996. In the first five
years we've lived in Arizona, they made many trips out to visit. But this time it
was different -- somehow I knew I would never see her again, and we spent more than
a week, just lazing around, talking old times, and telling her how much we loved
her.
Some early memories... The 1961
Pittcon. There were two beautiful women, each wearing very little, being chased by
pros and fans alike. Someone told me the girl with the grapes attached to the
chiffon was Joni Doyle. Pappa Villy (Willy Ley) and Isaac Asimov were in front of
the long line of admirers, undoubtedly trying to prove they loved grapes!
That was just my second worldcon, and my introduction to two of my favorite Ghods.
However, even though we were both at the convention, I didn't actually meet Joni
for two more years, when she married Jon and moved to his ski lodge in
Wisconsin.I have so many memories of Joni at
cons and parties. She and Jon would kidnap me at least twice a year and take me to
Midwestcon and Minicon. And of course, there was Wilcon -- their very own
convention held at the ski lodge, usually over the Fourth of July. If you attended,
you were expected to help, cook, clean, bring food & drink. Those who didn't
received a gold 'brick' on their invitation the next year. They had started Wilcon
before their house was even built (they lived at the lodge at the time). Back in
1963, Jon and Joni were still in honeymoon state and didn't go to a party at Earl
Kemp's place in Chicago, so we decided (in the middle of the night) to go up to
Wisconsin (leaving the Beck and Kemp kids back in Chicago with an excellent
babysitter: Fritz Leiber!) and skinny-dip in their nice sized pond -- two cars full
of happy fans! When we arrived we pounded on their door, but being sound sleepers
(ha!) they wouldn't come out and join us, so we went swimming without them. To
this day, Jon does not believe we were there!Over the years I watched Joni
become a gourmet cook and a professional gardener (she would forget the common name
from plants, but never the Latin ones). By the time I got to know her she was
already a professional commercial artist, and fine writer. Joni's secret charities
were numerous, and for every one I was in on, there were dozens I didn't know about.
Over the years, I have found many other fans and pros that very quietly helped
fandom. But until they like Joni, are gone, I will not tell of them.Maybe someday I will try to write
about the many and varied jokes (some taking years) we were all a part of, but now
I must close; Jon is here and we are leaving tomorrow for San Antonio and the
Worldcon. So if you see a fat old lady being pushed by a young good looking man at
the convention, say hello -- it won't be Jon!!! - - - - - - - - - -
I Remember Joni... by Bill Mallardi ...But then, once anyone met Joni,
how could you forget her? If memory serves, she was the first or second fan I ever
met in fandom. Joni Stopa, as she's been known for more than 30 years, passed away
in the early morning hours of December 4, 1996, of complications from a heart
problem, plus a stroke and staph infection. The heart problem caused her to
collapse on Friday, November 8th, at Windycon. She was 56.When I first met Joni, she was Joni
Cornell, 18, recently divorced with a two-year-old child, Debbie, and living in
Monessen, PA. I had been reading science fiction for more than six years, when in
1958 I picked up a prozine and saw an ad in the back from a female named Marijane
Johnson asking for correspondents, and mentioning a club of SF fans, the N3F.
Being 21, I wrote to her thinking she was a young, pretty single gal, kind of
hoping to start a friendship with a bit of romance to it. To my surprise, it
turned out Marijane was a bed-ridden woman in her `40s, with a severe form of
childhood rheumatism, a bad spine and occasionally even on oxygen. She had an
electric wheelchair with all kinds of straps and gizmos on it, plus an intricate
metal lift that got her in and out of bed, etc. She called the chair 'Mr. Clancy'.
Janey had a personality that wouldn't quit, so everyone called her 'Sparkle-Janey'.
She conned me into joining N3F, and one of the welcome letters I received was
from a pretty, young gal, and of course it was Joni.When Joni sent me a picture of
herself, my heart flipped. She was not only attractive, but also intelligent with
a great sense of humor. In our letters to each other we always stuck funny quips,
etc., inside. So one night while watching TV, I spotted a commercial with a great
line. It was animated (I think for Mr. Clean detergent) with the talking drops
stopping in mid-air on their way into a bucket of hot water, and with a distressed
look at the camera asking: "Do you know what it means to be
Emulsified?" In my next letter I used it as an interlineation -- and Joni loved
it! In letters, even in person at cons, all we had to do to break each other up
was to turn suddenly to the other and say that line. Another time she mentioned
that her cat got outside and had a tryst in the fields, ending up pregnant. I
countered with: "What?! Your cat had kittens at her age? Whatever in the world
got into her?"Both of us missed the `59 Detention,
but Pittsburgh got the bid for 1960 -- so Joni and I planned on a big welcome from
each other when we met. (She promised to give me a big kiss, and I was looking
forward to it.) I took two weeks vacation and a non-fan friend and I went to New
York City for five days. He was to drop me off at the con hotel on the way home,
and I would find my own way back to Akron. (I met Ray Schaffer of North Canton,
Ohio, who brought me home afterwards).1960 was the first year for Project
Art Show, started by Bjo Trimble and Dirce Archer. Instead of having Bjo transport
all the artwork from California, Dirce drafted Joni to be the 'mail drop' -- which
meant that all the bundles of artwork were shipped by the artists to Joni's small
apartment. When Bjo knocked on Joni's door to get it, Joni said, "You're here!
You can get this art out of here!" There was art filling up the hallway, so you
had to sidle sideways to get through, and artwork was in every available space
throughout the whole apartment! I certainly didn't help matters any, because in my
haste to leave for New York it was inevitable I'd miss something. This time it was
three pairs of pants I'd forgotten to get at the cleaners. I remembered them too
late though, since I was in New York at the time! Not going to be there long
enough for my folks to send them to New York, I hit upon a devilish plan. I wrote
home and had my folks send the pants to Joni in Monessen. At the same time I wrote
Joni, telling her to expect their arrival, and she could give them to me when I got
my kiss.
The great day came and I arrived
late Saturday. Checking into my room, I dumped everything down and rushed up to
the 17th floor to find Joni. Hurrying into the room where the Art Show was being
set up, I looked frantically around. I asked someone if Joni was there and he
pointed out a slim, 5-foot 2-inch tall beautiful blue-eyed blonde, who was behind
some tables talking on the phone. She looked up at me, and I stretched my arms out
wide and yelled, "Joni, baby!" Hurriedly, she hung up and yelled back, "Bill
Mallardi!"...and she leaped over the table. (Well, no, actually she ran around
from behind it). She threw herself into my arms, her arms encircled by neck, and
as I held her completely off the floor she gave me two big kisses!!
"Goshwow," I thought, "What are all these other fans thinking?" Then Joni did
it...she pulled the clincher. The Perfect Squelcheroo! "Bill," she said loudly as
I set her back down on the floor, "I've got your pants right over there!"
You should have seen the fans look our way with arched eyebrows. "C'mon," she said,
taking my hand, "Let's go up to your room and I'll press them for you. I brought
an iron." So Al Lewis, Dave and Carol Prosser, and Gregg Trend all trouped up to
my room, and Joni and I explained it on the way, much to my relief! Thus ended the
Saga of "The Great Pants Scandal."Jon Stopa also first saw Joni at
Pittcon. It was just outside the door of the Art Show, which she was setting up.
"I need volunteers," she said forcefully, aiming her words at Harlan Ellison. "Do
you know who I am?" he asked. She said she didn't care who he was. At that point
Jon ducked out! Another story from the con was that she had sat on Isaac Asimov's
lap while wearing her costume ball outfit, a gown with grapes tied to it. Asimov
obligingly ate the grapes, one by one.Pittcon was so much fun Joni and I
made plans to make Seattle in 1961. Al Lewis also liked Joni, so when he took his
teacher's vacation he drove from L.A. to Pennsylvania, picked up Joni and Debbie,
then went back to California. She stayed at Al's house until time to leave for
Seacon. The Plan was for me to join up with a caravan of two other cars with my
white, 1960 Valiant at Earl Kemp's in Chicago. On the way back Joni would ride
east with me and whoever else was in the car from the Chicago group. During the
trip west, Al and Joni stopped at many fans' abodes to stay for the night. The
first stop was in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, adjoining Akron, to visit with the president
of the N3F, an older fan named Ralph Holland. With my parents permission, they
then drove to Fairlawn to spend the night with us.Unfortunately, when I left later
for the hook-up with Earl and company in Chicago, I mis-timed it badly. I thought
it took six hours to drive, but it actually took eight! When I arrived there was a
note on Earl's door: "Bill, we had to leave with two cars. Try to catch up to us
if you can." Great! Here I had worked all night, had no sleep for 24 hours, and
had to keep driving across the country alone. By dint of continuous driving and
finding small motels that let me sleep five hours for $5, I finally caught up to
them in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I was totally exhausted when Earl Kemp pulled
me aside and said, "Bill, the only driver/rider for you is a Jon Stopa, but don't
let him drive more than two hours at a time, he's got a bad back." Groan. It
turned out though, that Jon could only drive Kemp's big Buick two hours before his
back started hurting, but my little Valiant was so easy to drive that he drove it
four, five, six, and seven hours straight, both coming and going, before it bothered
him. That model had a long hood, but a short, 'bobbed' rear end with one unusual
styling feature: the trunk lid had the imprint of a false tire cover stamped into
it.Meanwhile, back in the N3F, many
Neffers, including Joni and I, had taken up a collection to get the aforementioned
Sparkle-Janey to attend Seacon, since she lived in nearby Spokane. (This was in
addition to the TAFF fund, won by England's Ella Parker that year.) Our fund was
large enough to buy Janey plane tickets, etc., and she said later she only spent
$10 of her own money the whole time. (It would be Janey's first and only con --
she passed away a few years later.)After the plane tickets were bought,
unknown to us, Janey's protective parents talked her into not going, fearing for
her care and safety. It so happened that Bjo and John Trimble were coming back
from Billings, Montana, and decided to stop in and see if Janey needed anything for
the trip, but her parents almost didn't let them in the house! Talking persistently
and promising that we fans would give Janey 24-hour-care or hire a professional
care-giver, plus the fact that the plane tickets were already purchased, they
finally succeeded in getting them to agree, much to Janey's delight.Dick Eney picked Janey up at the
Seattle Airport, and from then on Joni, Phil Freedman, Jane Jacobs, Ralph Holland,
Al Lewis, Gem Carr, and I plus many others, took care of her at Seacon. The hotel
also furnished a babysitter for Debbie and Janey while Joni went to some of the con
affairs and nighttime parties, plus Mr. Clancy and the lift were constantly in
use.Joni even made a costume for Janey
for the Masquerade Ball; she went as "Queen of the Cats" -- Joni dressed her in a
long green robe, with a silver cat's head on her bosom and a crown on her head.
Even Mr. Clancy was dressed up with a coat of foil feathers on the sides. (Joni
was in big demand by others, too, to help them with their costumes.) I volunteered
to push Janey the three times around the Ballroom with the other costumed fans; she
grinned like a Cheshire cat. Joni ended up winning the prize for 'The Most'
category, which means she had on the least.Janey missed a lot of the con
activities because she tired so easily, so she missed the banquet and Heinlein's
Guest of Honor speech. Joni had put her to bed, leaving some money for Ralph
Holland to use to buy her a big dinner. Later, Joni came rushing in before Janey
fell asleep, saying she had a visitor. To her surprise in walked GoH Robert
Heinlein himself! Joni and Phil sat on the floor, while Heinlein sat in a big
chair. Soon Buz and Elinor Busby, Poul and Karen Anderson, Sylvia White, and
others walked in.Heinlein stayed almost three hours
talking and relaxing until 2 AM, and told Janey he felt more "unwound" than he had
all day. It thrilled Janey no end, and just like a lot of things at the con, I'm
sure Joni was involved in some way or another. The last day of the con Joni packed
Janey's luggage for the flight home, but we still had her birthday to celebrate;
Phil brought the punch makings, and Bjo showed up with a cake. We lit the candles
and sang "Happy Birthday", then Sandy Cuttrell and Ted Johnston brought guitars and
filk songs were sung. Rumor has it that Forry Ackerman even had an alcoholic
beverage!
When we packed to leave for home,
there was not only Jon, Joni, Debbie, and myself, but two sort of fringe-type fans
from Chicago, boy and girlfriend, who asked to come along! I only recall his first
name, George, but his lady friend's name I've forgotten completely! We took turns
driving on the trip back and shared expenses, gas, food, lodging. Everyone had
sleeping bags, so most of the time we camped out along the way. Jon, George, and I
packed that small trunk with as much stuff as we could, including some unsold
artwork of Joni's. The rest was shoved onto the shelf inside the back window.
Every stop at night we had to remember exactly where everything went. When
we left next morning, if we put something else in that spot we couldn't close the
trunk lid! Last to go in were the sleeping bags, since they were so pliable. The
next time we opened the trunk, the bag on top actually retained the impress of that
false tire cover! That trunk was full.When Joni drove she loved to kick
off her shoes and drive barefoot, which I didn't mind until we got into the
beautiful mountains of Glacier National Park in Montana. It scared the hell out of
me, because every time we went down the mountains, she'd put the car in
neutral! "Joni," I said, "If our brakes fail on these steep grades we're goners!
We won't even have the engine's compression to help slow us down!" "Bill, don't
worry, I'm just trying to save gas! We'll be all right!" Luckily, we had no car
problems at all.During the trip I knew that Joni
and Jon were attracted to each other, but Joni knew what she was doing, and if it
turned serious everything would work out for the best. As it turned out, they were
made for each other, even their names were similar. But Joni held off marrying Jon
for a year and a half before consenting and joining him in Wilmot, Wisconsin. When
Bill Bowers and I started Double:Bill in October 1962, Joni was a life
recipient, and contributed covers, articles, and interior illos. She appeared in
our last issue, D:B #21 and illustrated her own article, "The Iron Womb and
I," a humorous piece about the ads in back of the old pulps...like: "Ruptured?"Of course, Joni and Jon went on to
many good things: winning eight costume ball prizes over the years, holding Wilcons,
etc., culminating in being Fan Guests of Honor at Chicon 5 in 1991.I will miss Joni very much, she was
a beautiful person inside and out, and fandom is the lesser for her leaving us.
Very talented in many ways, she never turned down anyone who asked for help, from
costume making to volunteering for anything fannish. Her kindness to Sparkle-Janey
was also a tribute to her that not too many fans of today knew about. She was
definitely special to me..I knew her almost 40 years, and my only regret now
is that I was Gafiated the whole time she grew ill, and I knew nothing of it...thus
I never saw her ever again. Yes, I guess in my own way I loved her, and a song I
heard on the radio recently barely expresses my feelings:It was an old song by Kris
Kristofferson, and it said, "She's not ashamed to be a woman to afraid to be a
friend, and lovin' her was easier than anything I'll ever do again..."G'Bye, Joni...you were loved more
than you know...(Many
thanks to Jon Stopa and Bjo Trimble for their help to me in preparing this
article.)All illustrations by Diana Harlan Stein |
|