dewline | Following the Wakes of Others

I attended a wake of sorts two weekends ago for a fellow member of the Ottawa Science Fiction Society, a lady who went by several names during her life, and wrapping her life up as Sansoucy Walker at her death. Her family and friends had been expecting this for a fair while, so while the timing of the death surprised them, the mere fact of it did not. If you've picked up a copy of one of the several editions of L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future or Tesseracts 5, you'll have seen samplings of her fiction work under the name "Sansoucy Kathenor".

If there's a continually annoying truth about the deaths of others, it's that you learn more after the dead become thus than they -- or the fates, if you will -- told you during their lives. I knew something of her work with gems and writing, but not her experiences with archeology or aviation, for example. She served in the Canadian Forces, and actually flew fighter planes on an experimental basis at a time when few women went anywhere near the cockpits. Her modelling days? Likewise unknown to me until the wake.

It leaves me wondering about the inevitable question arising from these musings, to be honest.

Following the Wakes of Others

no subject