Conucopia: Gary Louie, 1957-1999
Conucopia
Gary Louie, 1957-1999
Rev. 17-Jul-1999
Previous: Chairman's Messages
(Table of Contents) Next: Gary Louie, Part 2
_________________________________________________________________
E-mail: web99@99.nasfic.org
Conucopia is dedicated to the memory of Gary Louie, fan and friend.
Rebecca Barber's Last Picture of Gary (JPG, 768x512, 33K) - taken at
Disneyland on Super Bowl Sunday.
Gary Louie, L.A.-area fan and Lego enthusiast,
passed away Tuesday night 02-Feb-1999 of a heart attack at his home.
Gary had been active in local and national fandom for over fifteen
years, including overseeing exhibits at L.A.con III
. Reminiscences and other bio material
solicited for a memorial page on www.99.nasfic.org, please e-mail to
web99@99.nasfic.org.
This page contains pieces by:
* Berni Phillips
* Alan Winston
* Matthew B. Tepper
* Ruth Sachter
* Craig Miller
* Janice Gelb
* Kim Campbell
* Laurie D. T. Mann
* Ben Yalow
* Patty Wells
* Teresa Nielsen Hayden
* Robert E Sacks
* William Sadorus
* Joyce Scrivner
* Stuart C. Hellinger
* Shaun Lyon
* Glenn Glazer
* Mike Donahue
* Eve Ackerman
* Karen Meschke and Fred Duarte
* Saul Jaffe
* Kevin Standlee
* Lew Wolkoff
* Sally Woehrle
* Ingrid Oliansky
* Vincent Docherty
* Kurt C. Siegel
* Lynn Gold
* Allison Hershey
* Sharon Sbarsky
See also: Gary Louie, Part 2
_________________________________________________________________
A memorial service was held at LASFS in North
Hollywood CA, on 28-Feb-1999, at 2:00 pm. There are photos from the
event, courtesy of Hazel's Picture Gallery
taken by your webmaster.
Gary's book collection is being liquidated the weekend of 17-18
Jul-1999. 10am-5pm. "118 Freeway West to Collins Dr.; At the offramp,
turn right on to Collins Dr.; Turn left on to Campus Park Dr. (1st
light); Turn right on to Marquette St. (1st stop); Park; Look for the
1st driveway on the left; The sale is in the 1st Garage."
_________________________________________________________________
If you have anything you'd like to say to Gary's family, you can write
to them at brucelouie@aol.com. Mark the SUBJECT line "For the Louie
Family".
_________________________________________________________________
(Berni Phillips, 06-Feb-1999)
I am so sorry to hear this. I enjoyed his friendship, having met him
through LASFAPA and Friends of the English Regency events. I always
found him very sweet, even though he seemed to be perpetually stressed
out. My sympathies to his family and to the Pelzes, his second family.
_________________________________________________________________
(Alan Winston, 07-Feb-1999)
So far, this is the 1999 post I most wish I hadn't seen. Geeze, we
were just discussing running Lego model railroads through Habitrails
over in LASFAPA.
Damn.
_________________________________________________________________
(Matthew B. Tepper, 07-Feb-1999)
I'd known Gary for, I guess, the last twelve years. He always had a
pleasant (if poker-faced) greeting for me, and more than the
occasional kind word. From him I learned many interesting trivia of
Chinese-American-immigrant culture, such as New Year's traditions and
child-naming conventions.
Only now, reading from others of his outside-of-fandom interests, do I
realize why he would often show up for LASFS Board of Directors
meetings wearing a train engineer's cap.
I'm very sorry that virtually the last thing I ever said to him was a
sort of a snap. At a LASFS meeting a couple of weeks ago, someone had
asked me if I would be going to Solley's Deli after the meeting, and I
said that I wouldn't. Gary, who was sitting on the couch as I passed
by looked up in surprise and innocently squeaked, "Why? Have we done
something to offend you?" I replied, "It's nothing that you've done,
Gary."
I made a point of going to Solley's the following week, just to look
Gary up and show there were no hard feelings on my end (I can't
imagine he was offended by what I've said, but that doesn't mean I
should have said it). But he wasn't there. I missed him.
And dammit, now I always will.
_________________________________________________________________
(Ruth Sachter, 06-Feb-1999)
John and I are both in shock.
_________________________________________________________________
(Craig Miller, 08-Feb-1999)
John and I are both in shock.
As are many of us here in L.A. A lot of us saw him on Saturday, at a
small party. Others saw him on Tuesday for dinner. Gary was a good
friend to many people and, within the context of SMOFS, had worked on
many, many conventions both here in L.A. and elsewhere. He'll
definitely be missed.
_________________________________________________________________
(Janice Gelb, 06-Feb-1999)
I'm really sorry to hear this -- I rode in the airport limo with him
at SMOFcon and his health seemed to be improving. It's sad to lose
such a relatively young and exceedingly warm and likeable person.
_________________________________________________________________
(Kim Campbell, 07-Feb-1999)
My deepest sympathies to LA fandom. Gary was a treasure of the first
water. I will miss him greatly.
_________________________________________________________________
(Laurie D. T. Mann, 07-Feb-1999)
Gary was a very hard-working, helpful fan. I really only ever saw him
at Worldcons, but he was always someone I looked forward to seeing.
_________________________________________________________________
(Ben Yalow, 07-Feb-1999)
He was a wonderful friend, fan, person -- he will be greatly missed by
everyone.
_________________________________________________________________
(Patty Wells, 07-Feb-1999)
It won't seem like a Westercon or a Worldcon without Gary there. He
was so much one of us regulars who was always there working quietly
behind the scenes and being what I think of as a real true fan. What a
loss as a friend, and what a loss to fandom.
_________________________________________________________________
(Teresa Nielsen Hayden, 07-Feb-1999)
No! Oh, this is sad, and such an unexpected loss.
Thank you for letting us know.
_________________________________________________________________
(Robert E Sacks, 07-Feb-1999)
I am afraid to admit that my first reaction was rage. I deleted the
first few comments on this thread in anger.
I dislike it intensely when my friends and casual acquaintances die.
We are all the poorer for his passing.
_________________________________________________________________
(William Sadorus, 07-Feb-1999)
This is extremely unexpected.
I enjoyed working with Gary during Westercon 50. I'll miss his
advice...
_________________________________________________________________
(Joyce Scrivner, 07-Feb-1999)
Gary has left us all too soon. I will miss him very much, he treated
me well whenever I've spent time with him and he was a pleasant
companion whether working or playing.
This particular type of thing (someone so young dying suddenly - he
was many years younger than I) leaves me thinking harder about making
sure my will gets written. What would happen to my hoard of fanzines?
Or the silly badges I've collected? Or the art I prize?
I will miss Gary. Thank you for telling us Chaz.
_________________________________________________________________
(Stuart C. Hellinger, 07-Feb-1999)
I first read this last night and just didn't believe it. Gary was one
of the people I looked forward to seeing ever time I went to a Western
convention.
Sometimes we lose the best at too early an age. I'll miss him. He was
one of a kind and great to know.
_________________________________________________________________
(Shaun Lyon, 08-Feb-1999)
I am still in shock after finding out Saturday night that Gary had
died. Many of our friends gathered together upon hearing the news;
none of us could shake the sadness. The next day, at the LASFS Board
meeting, there was an obvious air of confusion and dismay. We were
preparing for Gallifrey One next weekend; Gary had just emailed me the
day before his death in response to an art show-related question. A
group had gone to Disneyland two days before; I'd told him I was busy
and couldn't go. Now, I won't see him again.
I have only faced the death of a friend twice before... but never one
this close, someone I have spent so much time with. Gary was my dear
friend, and though we occasionally argued and fought, it was always in
the spirit of fandom we shared. I will not forget the dinners, the mah
jongg games, the parties, the legos... We had fun, all of us, and now
he is gone. We will miss you, Gary.
_________________________________________________________________
(Glenn Glazer, 08-Feb-1999)
Gary Louie was a boon companion and solid friend of mine. Gary and I
were roommates at many conventions, particularly LosCons and
WesterCons, and there was never any conflict between us, despite the
often stressful life of us both being on the concom. Gary also had a
fine eye for detail and was a superb assistant one of the times I ran
the art show for LosCon. Additionally, he was one of the very early
members of FEAST, a social dining out club, and was very active in the
organization and coordination of our monthly meetings.
When Gary had his stroke, I went to visit him at the hospital in
Oxnard and as time progressed, I saw him recover nearly completely
from its effects. It was thus, that the sad email I received took me
quite by surprise, no less so for he and I were about the same age. I
will miss him very much.
_________________________________________________________________
(Mike Donahue, 08-Feb-1999)
Gary Louie's death has hit me pretty hard. He always went out of his
way to help me, asking about my family, loaning me money when I needed
help with a family problem, arranging for hotel rooms so I could
attend the Baltimore Worldcon, and always looking out for my welfare
and good humor. The last time that I spent a lot of time with him was
New Year's eve at the Niven's, when my car broke down and he drove me
an hour and a half out of his way in the wrong direction from his home
to make sure I got home okay. I'm sorry to say that many of our other
friends who lived much closer to me declined to help me with a ride
home. But it wasn't a burden to Gary. He was happy to do it. Our
conversation that night was very special. I told Gary that I admired
him because everything he did was an adventure for him. He thought
about it, and then nodded his head and said, "Yeah." Gary did look at
life as an adventure, and if he was overly melodramatic, that was
certainly the reason for it. He found terrific satisfaction in solving
a problem, helping a friend, or going on a quest for a new item for
one of his collections. I don't know that his family will every
understand how special he was to fandom, and how he left the world a
better place for his passing through. He was working on the James
White Concordance at the time of his death, and also worked many
convention art shows. I don't think there was a single person on the
entire planet who knew him that bore him any ill will.
When Kim Brown was speaking to Gary's brother Bruce Louie on the
telephone after his death, Bruce allowed as how Gary's close friends
could come to the family memorial services. Kim had to tell Bruce that
if Gary's close friends came to the service, there would be over 100
people there.
Gary's beyond any pain or loss now. I'm convinced in my heart that
whatever comes, nothing bad could happen to a man as good as Gary.
I'm grieving Gary's loss, for my own selfish reasons. We had a lot of
unfinished business together. I was going to help him put together his
display for his trains, and also we had a dinner date with Chuck
Shimada at Disneyland Tuesday after Gallifrey 1999. I was going to New
Orleans Smofcon 1999 with Gary, where we were planning on sharing
hotel rooms and Gary was already busy planning our dinner outings. Of
course, we were all going to room together at NASFIC. I know that I
will always look for his face in a crowd of fans.
I'm sorry- Words are failing me.
_________________________________________________________________
(Eve Ackerman, 08-Feb-1999)
Janice Gelb sent me the news about Gary. To say I was shocked and
saddened can't begin to convey my feelings.
Gary and I were in Lasfapa together and shared some WorldCon memories.
My special story about Gary involves my younger son, Micah. Micah's
now 11 but when he was very young he had a fascination with the
Orient. Gary was kind enough to send Micah a postcard, with the boy's
name written in Chinese characters. The explanation was "'Mi-cah'
translates into two characters, 'buys' and 'cars' so it looks like
your son's going to grow up to be a used car salesman."
Micah was thrilled and we still have the postcard on our 'fridge.
Gary will be greatly missed.
_________________________________________________________________
(Karen Meschke and Fred Duarte, 08-Feb-1999)
Fred and I are both very saddened by the news about Gary. He always
was willing to lend a hand when asked. He shared his knowledge with us
at many conventions. The loss of Gary will be felt not only by fans on
the West Coast but worldwide.
_________________________________________________________________
(Saul Jaffe, 08-Feb-1999)
Frankly, I'm stunned speechless...
_________________________________________________________________
(Kevin Standlee, 08-Feb-1999)
I am saddened by Gary's death, although I knew he had been ill. Gary
was one of the people I genuinely looked forward to seeing at
conventions.
I'll always remember when, at ConFiction in 1990, he and I were
helping move chairs on a rickety flatbed cart in preparation for an
all-seated-Worldcons party (SF in '93 just having been selected). Gary
had been part of the Hawaii bid, but that didn't stop him from helping
us after the election was over. As we rolled the cart down the hall, a
large mob of people headed toward us (a well-attended panel had
apparently just let out). Not wanting to get trampled, I jumped up
onto the pile of chairs on the cart. Gary, aghast, said, "Kevin, get
down from there! I don't want to be sued if you get hurt!" I called
back, "We're in Holland, remember? I doubt they'd have any sympathy to
me."
Now I REALLY regret not having taken that extra day of vacation so
that Gary and I could tour the B&O Railroad Museum the day after
Bucconeer.
_________________________________________________________________
(Lew Wolkoff, 08-Feb-1999)
Goodbye, Gary.
Thank you for giving so much of yourself to fandom and SF conventions.
As a resource and, more importantly, as a person, you will be missed.
_________________________________________________________________
(Sally Woehrle, 08-Feb-1999)
I'll miss Gary at the Worldcons and Westercons. He was always someone
to have a quick chat with or a long talk. He was great to work with
and had a lot of knowledge and experience with conventions that he was
willing to share with those of us that needed it. He will be missed.
_________________________________________________________________
(Ingrid Oliansky, 08-Feb-1999)
I am deeply saddened by the news of Gary's death. Unlike many of the
others who have paid tribute to him on this page, I did not know Gary
very well. This is also something I now find myself regretting.
While I didn't know him well personally I did count on his presence at
Conventions and I admired his commitment and dedication. He was a
constant presence at conventions and parties and I guess I just
thought he would always be there.
I guess this just goes to remind me that life is indeed fragile and it
is so important to live it the best way we can. From what I knew of
Gary and from what I have read of the comments on this page and what I
have heard from his good friends, it sure seems like he did live his
life the best he could. He made a positive impact on those around him
and he filled his time with what he wanted to do.
I am very sorry that I didn't take the opportunities when I had them
to get to know him better.
_________________________________________________________________
(Vincent Docherty, 09-Feb-1999)
I was very saddened to hear of Gary's untimely death. He was a
familiar face at conventions and I only had the chance to get to know
him better when we worked together last year at Bucconeer. He made a
big contribution to fandom and I won't forget his enthusiasm, drive
and friendliness.
_________________________________________________________________
(Kurt C. Siegel, 09-Feb-1999)
We remember Gary. A kind, gentle, easy to talk with person who could
laugh with you about just about anything. We were fortunate to work
with him at Magicon, ConFrancisco, Conadian, LACon, LonestarCon, and
BucConeer, and - along with everyone else - nagged him about taking
care of himself.
At LACon, Gary had worked feverishly to make the exhibits area work,
and it showed. And therein is our best recollection of Gary.
Gary, Nancy Cobb, Kathryn Daugherty and I were upstairs overlooking
the exhibits and dealer's areas, when Gary needed to speak to the
supplier of the Hospital Scrubs which were ordered for the Sector
General interface. But to get the scrubs, Gary had to give his credit
card number over the phone - something most of us are quite used to by
now.
Immediately after he finished, Dave Gallaher entered the room, and
saying nothing, approached Gary.
Gary just looked at him, and Dave reached next to Gary and turned the
PA microphone off. As Gary's eyes grew to the size of Buick Tires,
Dave oh so casually stated that two of the dealers had missed the last
digit, and could he read the card again?
There was silence in the room, followed by an explosion of laughter.
The person laughing the loudest was Gary.
That's how Nancy & I will always remember him - Laughing.
_________________________________________________________________
(Lynn Gold, 09-Feb-1999)
I didn't know Gary that well, but I always found him to be a calming
and friendly presence at cons. He was someone I always looked forward
to seeing at Westercons and LA-based gencons.
I had no idea he was ill. I'm also a bit shaken up, as he was only a
year older than me.
Sigh. Why couldn't Charles Manson have died of that heart attack
instead?
_________________________________________________________________
(Allison Hershey, 11-Feb-1999)
He was a familiar face at art shows and LASFS. I was just getting to
know him personally.....
I last saw him at the Disneyland group trip on January 31. He endured
teasing from us about his search for Disney trivia around the park. He
and Glenn and I discussed having dinner together, but it didn't pan
out; we took it for granted we would see him soon anyway. Never take
anything for granted-- Life is fleeting......
I'll miss the friend he could have been.
_________________________________________________________________
(Sharon Sbarsky, 11-Feb-1999) I don't remember when I first met Gary.
It may have been at WesterColt 45, The Westercon in Phoenix, Arizona
in 1988. He was an active LA area fan (a member of LASFS and SCIFI),
always helping someone or with something. He was easy to spot, wearing
a blue vest with buttons on it (just a few, not enough to be rated for
armor), one of the buttons would say "Not Lex Nakashima".
At Noreascon Three, Boston, 1989, he helped Ruth Sachter, John Lorentz
and myself with At-Con Registration. He was there nearly as much as
the three of us. Helping where needed, making good decisions if
necessary to get the members registered, out of Hall A and into the
Worldcon where they could enjoy themselves.
After that there wasn't a Worldcon, Westercon or Smofcon that both of
us were there that we didn't try to find each other to spend some time
visiting, share a meal or help each other with whatever current
project we had. We discovered that we were both big Sushi fans. One
memorable meal was during the '94 Westercon in LA. We went to an
all-you-can-eat- in-an-hour restaurant called Cowboy Sushi. Gary
started ordering by picking pieces in order on the menu; I was
ordering my favorites. Gary soon switched to ordering the same thing I
was. We discovered that this helped the chef prepare the pieces
quicker and the whole group was soon in sync.
We had so much fun at that meal that we always tried to find a sushi
restaurant at every convention we were both at, no matter what city.
Sometimes Gary would research the restaurants in advance, sometimes we
would take our chances using the local Yellow Pages. Occasionally, I
would return to the same restaurant twice in a trip just to make sure
that Gary and I shared a sushi meal. I recently did that at both
Bucconeer and Smofcon 16 in Colorado Springs.
At Worldcons and Westercons there would also be "sweet wine" parties.
People would contribute an Ice Wein or Trachen Beren Auslese to share
among friends. Gary didn't drink quite as much as the other
participants, but he enjoyed the get together and always made sure
that it wasn't forgotten. He would email people in advance, to help
find a good evening (that wasn't overloaded with people working bid
parties, etc.), a location (sometimes offering his room), and a supply
of plastic glasses.
As I mentioned, Gary often helped with whatever I was involved with.
He would help with bid parties for Boston/Orlando in 1998/2001,
sometimes even when he could have been helping with an LA area party.
Many Boston area fans met him and appreciated his help and his humor.
In 1997, Jim Mann asked me to run the Staff Den at LoneStarCon2. I
don't remember whether I asked Gary to help, or if he volunteered
first. He was glad to get away from the exhibit work he had been doing
at Worldcons, but when they needed his expertise, he explained to me
and helped with the setup. But that didn't stop him from feeling bad
that he couldn't offer as many hours to me.
A job that he did for LASFS was purchasing books for the LASFS
library. He was concerned that he would be missing new NESFA Press
books, so he asked how he could get notices of when we would publish
new books. Since, at the time, we didn't have a mailing list for
announcements; I suggested that by joining NESFA he would find out our
publishing schedules by reading Instant Message and never miss a
notice. We learned to expect the double order from him for LASFS and
his personal collection, to be picked up at Boskone by Bruce Pelz.
Soon he enjoyed being a NESFAn, reading about what we were doing, the
escapades of Mr. Skunk and other items of interest.
He always wanted to attend a Boskone, but recently it conflicted with
the LA area convention, Gallifrey. He told me that maybe next year he
could escape and come east in February. Then he was even more
interested in coming when he found that there was a Lego store in
Waltham. He wanted to know how far away from Framingham, Waltham was.
Besides con-running, Gary was a huge Lego fan and collector. When he
found the Internet newsgroups, he was excited to find the Lego
newsgroup where people would trade hard to find Lego pieces. I'm not
sure how he had time for everything.
Gary always had something interesting to talk about. I was fascinated
by his knowledge of Chinese heritage and history. It was detailed and
complex and Gary immersed himself in learning more with as much
intensity as he did everything else. I wish that we talked more about
his heritage.
Once you were Gary's friend, you found that he cared about you. It
didn't matter if you were 3000 miles away. He was genuinely concerned
when I needed help and rejoiced in my good news, when he had a problem
or needed help he would email or call to ask my advice. Just a couple
of weeks ago, I was thinking that I hadn't heard from him recently. I
meant to email him to check on him, but didn't get to it. I'm sorry I
didn't. Gary was a good friend, I will miss him a lot.
_________________________________________________________________
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