Roy Tackett

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(May 20, 1925 -- May 23, 2003)

Roy Tackett (also known as Horrible Old Roy Tackett -- he was anything but) and as RoyTac had been a fan since 1936 when (as a kid living in rural Colorado) he started corresponding with other fans. He was in the Marines during the war and upon returning to the US he became active in fandom on the West Coast, attending the first LASFS Fanquet, in 1945 and was active in Bay Area fandom in late 40s and early 50s and was e member of the Golden Gate Futurian Society and the Little Men. He was a member of the ISL.

During the early 50s Tackett was a Marine Corps drill instructor at Parris Island. By 1960, he had pretty much gafiated for around eight years, when he discovered a review of the Coulsons' Yandro and sent off for a copy; Buck wrote back, asking if Roy had anything in his files they could publish, so Roy dug something out and sent it to them; as Roy later remembered, "The itch won out. I was back in fandom, and I never left it again." He was credited with the introduction of fandom to Japan in the 50s when, back in the Marines, he was stationed there.

He retired from the Marines in 1962 with twenty years of service and settled in Albuquerque. "As far as I knew, there wasn't any stf activity in Albuquerque, so I did the only thing that was possible: I took out ads in the SF magazines asking for anyone interested in forming a stf club to contact me. I got letters from Chicago and Boston, but nary a nibble from Albuquerque."

Nevertheless, he did found an Albuquerque fandom after a chance meeting at a used book store with Robert E. Vardeman -- they were both reaching for the same copy of Analog. With Eugene Casey they founded the and Albuquerque SF Society and went on to co-found Bubonicon.

He produced more than one hundred issues of his fanzine Dynatron during the 60s, and won TAFF in 1976 (his trip report was titled Tackett's Travels in Taffland).

Roy was the Fan GoH at the 1997 Worldcon in San Antonio, Texas where Mojo Press released his selected fan writing, The Least Horrible of Roy Tackett.

Roy got the fannish nickname of "HORT" in the early 60s, hung on him by Bruce Pelz. It was an initialism for 'Horrible Old Roy Tackett', which Roy was anything but when anyone heard Roy called that, the accepted response was supposed to be, "Oh, I know Roy Tackett and he's not that old!"

He died in 2003 of heart failure brought on by years of heavy smoking, and was buried in the Santa Fe National Cemetery along with his wife, and fellow Marine, of over 40 years, Crystal Tackett. In 2008, fellow fan, and long time friend, Jack Speer was buried nearby.

Fanzines and Apazines:

Awards, Honors and GoHships:


Person 19252003
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