Gus Willmorth

Gus Willmorth (1940s). Courtesy of Rob Hansen

(January 18, 1921 – April 1, 1999)

Norman Edgar “Gus” Willmorth, a Los Angeles fan and member (and Director) of LASFS in the 1940s and '50s, created Fantasy Advertiser and contributed to other fanzines. He also belonged to the N3F. He attended the Worldcons Denvention in 1941 and Philcon in 1947.

A corporal posted to a US Army base just outside Norwich, East Anglia, in World War II, he was the first Amerifan UK fans had ever met. He wrote about the differences between US and UK fandom in the '40s. He missed attending Eastercon in 1944 because of the lead up to D-Day. (See Then here and here.)

In August 1947, he married Eugenie Reid; they had one son named David. By 1966, he was living in Alexandria, Virginia, according to The 1966 Directory of S.F. Fandom. He attended Tricon, that year’s Worldcon.

Denvention 2’s census of members of the first Denvention reported him alive and well in California as of 1981. He died on April 1, 1999, in Los Angeles, CA.

• Brief autobiography.
• “Why I Am A Fantasy Fan” by Willmorth in Fan 10 (July 1946), p. 4.
• Photo from the LASFS Album.
• Group picture in Harry Warner's All Our Yesterdays p. 261 (1969).

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Fantasy Advertiser
• Shangri L'Affaires (some issues)

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Person

1921—1999

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