Gretchen Roper

From Fancyclopedia 3
(Redirected from The-secret-empire)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

(???? –)

Gretchen Roper (formerly Van Dorn, née Duntemann) is a longtime Chicago fan, filker, conrunner and huckster. She co-founded Dodeka Records with her husband, Bill Roper, received the Pegasus Award and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2008.

She chaired Capricon 27. She was one of the creators of The Secret Empire is a company founded in the mid-80s to sell stuffed animals and the like at conventions. In 1986, Gretchen Roper and her husband bought out her partner and since then used used it for their huckstering business at conventions, specializing in filk.

She was a regular at Thursday, which she hosted frequently in her spacious Evanston apartment with then-husband Doug Van Dorn. She created the full-size soft sculptures of Neil Rest and Phyllis Eisenstein displayed in the Thursday analogue fan lounge at Chicon 6. She was part of Mobius Theater.

Her brother is author and fan Jeff Duntemann.

Awards, Honors and GoHships:



Person ????
This is a biography page. Please extend it by adding more information about the person, such as fanzines and apazines published, awards, clubs, conventions worked on, GoHships, impact on fandom, external links, anecdotes, etc. See Standards for People and The Naming of Names.