L.A.con IV: Fan Guest of Honor: Howard DeVore (original) (raw)

b. 26-May-1925 - d. 31-Dec-2005

(from Progress Report 0)

Howard DeVore's legend as a huckster, storyteller, and fan to be reckoned with has been growing for more than 50 years. A great many things have come out of Big Hearted Howard's famous garage, including predecessors to the Guide to the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, whose 1998 Advent edition got Howard added to his own list as a nominee for the Best Related Book Hugo. He helped organize the Detroit Worldcon of 1959, and the TriCon of 1966, hosted in Cleveland by fans from three cities, with Howard serving as the Detroit Associate ConChair.

Photo by Chad Childers, 2002.

Howard DeVore has died. I just got the news from Mark Hickman who got it directly from Howard's family. It happened yesterday, Dec. 31 in the late morning. He'd been moved to a rehab facility and had been there about 15 hours and simply passed away. Mark knew no other details as yet, but speculates that Howard will be cremated and that there will be a memorial service at Worldcon and at Midwestcon.

"Big-Hearted" Howard DeVore was one of the best known and best liked fans of all time. He was an SF reader and collector since at least the mid '30s, and when he went off to fight in WWII he moved all his books and magazines into a spare room of his house and padlocked the door shut so that he'd never have to worry about what was happening to his collection while he was away. The key went with him to Europe and flew with him on all his combat missions over France and Germany. Howard was an Aerial Gunner in the US Army 8th Air Force and flew the belly-gunner's position in a B-17, probably the most dangerous single job on that aircraft. He rarely talked about his war years and when he did it was nearly always some incredible tale of outwitting the Army at its own game - a practice at which Howard was a master. However, several years ago Howard and I both took on the job of guarding the huxter room at Pulpcon and spent the night alone locked in that big old room full of pulps. Howard wasn't able to sleep and so we sat up most of the night and talked. Eventually he started talking about his experiences in WWII and for the first time I heard the real story of the horrors he saw first hand in the skies over Europe. I won't go into details, but his war bore little resemblance to the prettied-up war movies that we've all seen. He saw war at its worst and did his job in spite of it all. Ever since that night Howard's been one of my heroes of WWII. He'd have laughed at that idea. I think he'd actually have hated that idea. But heroes are rarely the guys who ask for the dirty jobs; they're the guys who get the dirty job done no matter what the cost. And that was Howard DeVore.

In fandom, he did it all and cast a wide shadow. He published zines, most recently in PEAPS and in other apas. He was involved - directly and behind the scenes - with many conventions, was a master SF dealer and became the dealer that editors and other professionals turned to for rare SF, he was an early mainstay of the NFFF, First Fandom, and other fan groups, was a publisher of NFFF publications and wrote a book or two of his own, and no doubt did a great deal more that we'll all hear about in the fullness of time.

Howard's greatest fannish impact was as a mentor and a friend to countless fans all across the entire spectrum of fandom - including me. He was the guy who would always know the info that you wanted or would know where to find it. He knew where to find books and pulps that no one else could find. He had the connections and the knowledge of how to use them. A very handy fellow to be friends with.

He was hardly perfect. Howard smoked too much and continued to do so long after he knew better. He could get furious when a friend of his was being done wrong by anybody else - and would frequently assume the duty of correcting the situation - which was something else that he was very good at. He and his late wife Sybil raised a good bunch of children. I finally met one of his daughters, Karol last year at Midwestcon and immediately found her to be as delightful to talk with as her dad (and much prettier...) Last year when the Midwestcon weekend came around I was still at work that Friday and had had a terrible week. Irritable co-workers, angry surgeons, lost surgical instruments, grouchy patients complaining, heartbreaking patients dying... and just at quitting time I got the news that the vacation time off I'd requested had been denied. In that moment when all seemed lost, I remembered that Midwestcon was to be held that weekend and that I'd heard a report that Howard - who'd been very ill - was thinking of showing up for it. In that very instant I knew how I'd spend my weekend. I drove directly home, packed a small bag, grabbed some CDs of old time radio shows for the truck, kissed Liz good-bye for the weekend and drove all night to Cincinatti, arriving early that morning for Midwestcon. I was so sleepy all that day that I probably appeared drugged to all who saw me, but I grabbed a catnap outside by the pool and managed to function. Met some good friends and got to hang out with Howard, who had indeed shown up. He looked better than he had in quite a while and proudly reported that he'd quit smoking and had lost about 35 pounds. I'd always known that he could do both of those things whenever he'd just make up his mind to do so. We talked several times that day about little things; old times at conventions, people we'd known in PEAPS, about a video tape he'd sent me of a flight on a restored B-17 that he'd taken a few years ago - one of his first flights since leaving the Air Force over 50 years earlier. That evening at the end of the day, we just sat and enjoyed being there with our friends. And that was the whole point. That's always the whole point, really. I'm very glad now that I followed my hunch last year and dropped everything to drive all night to attend Midwestcon for only a day. That was the last time I got to sit and talk with Howard, and it was a very, very good day.

Till the next time, Howard...

Curt Phillips

I just got off the phone with Karol - Howard's daughter. One of the several things we talked about was how excited Howard was at being named the FGOH for the Worldcon and how much he and his daughters were looking forward to going out there. According to Karol, Howard's last wishes were to have no formal funeral at home, but to be cremated and have some sort of memorial at MidWestCon and the Worldcon. And, he wanted his ashes scattered over water. Karol is considering bringing his ashes out to the Worldcon and arranging to have them scattered over the Pacific. She has to talk to her sisters before any arrangements are made. I wonder if the Worldcon committee would be interested in contacting her to offer some sort of coordination assistance with that? Perhaps at least some sort of announcement in the program book, or possibly even some offering a room (the consuite?) for a memorial service where friends could speak. Just a thought.

Howard was a gunner on a B-17 in WWII, and I suggested to Karol that there might be a possibility of contacting someone who owns one of the few remaining B-17's (I believe one or two of them are based in California) to see if they'd fly Howard's ashes out over the ocean to be scattered. I don't know if that's a realistic idea or not, but...

Curt Phillips

Howard DeVore was my grandfather - we called him Granddad. He was a truly great man and a huge fan, as you know. I just wanted to tell you how good it makes us all (the family) feel that you're all coming together to remember him. Science Fiction was his passion, and although I'm sure he's somewhere laughing at what a fuss we're making, he must also feel loved and proud. Thank you.

Sarah Reynolds