An anecdote in memory of Kate Yule

[randy_byers]

Portland-area fan Kate Yule died yesterday. She had the same kind of brain cancer as I do: astrocytoma, which is a form of glioblastoma multiforme. When I received my diagnosis, about a year after hers, she sent me an email with the subjectline, "Welcome to the Club". I appreciated the gallows humor, but the thing that really moved me about this message is that I knew it cost her real effort. She seemed to lose her ability to write after the surgery to remove the initial tumor, so she was fighting through that difficulty in order to send her commiseration. She was a sweet and thoughtful like that.

My other anecdote is much sillier. The 2006 Worldcon was held at the Anaheim Hilton, which is the same hotel where two other LACons I had attended (1984, 1996) were held. The hotel had schematic maps by the stairwells on every floor that were singularly unhelpful. They had nothing indicating "You Are Here" or any markings whatsoever to help you find the function space you were looking for on that floor. They were simply schematic maps without any text whatsoever that I can recall. At some point Kate and I were complaining about this in a hall party, as you do, and Kate exclaimed that the next time there was a Worldcon in that hotel, she was bringing a Sharpie to make annotations on the schematics. Unfortunately, LA seems to have given up running Worldcons, so we've never had the chance to follow through on this idea, but I still think it's an excellent example of DIY fannish thinking.

Some of you were much closer friends of hers than I was, but we all lost someone special in Kate.

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

She e-mailed me a couple times, too, without as much cause. I appreciated that. Thoughtful and dedicated, that was Kate.