Marijane Johnson

(September 4, 1920 – March 12, 1969)

Marijane "Janey" Johnson, a fan living in Spokane, WA, was active in the 1950s and ’60s. She was a member of the N3F and ISFCC and wrote for many fanzines as well as her own Janey's Journal.

She suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis and used a wheelchair she called Clancy.

The only convention she attended was Seacon, the 1961 Worldcon in Seattle, when fans in Seattle and Spokane collected money to bring her. After her death, a one-shot fanzine collecting her fan writing, Janey's Journal, was edited by Clayton Hamlin and published by Robert Lambeck.

She wrote of herself in Femizine 13 (Spring 1960):

I have red hair and hazel eyes, and do my space travelling by wheelchair due to Arthritis which I’ve had since I was eight. Got through two years of high school when the chair caught up with me, but have always been thankful that I made it through school. Discovered fandom in 1956 and havn’t come out of my daze yet. I joined N3F and sure have been glad I did. It's opened up a whole new wonderful world for me, and I’ve met more wonderful people!...I’m sort of floundering my way through getting used to using a typer. My hands are pretty out of shape and I use two pencils and beat away at the keys with the eraser ends.

Stan Woolston wrote in TNFF (April 1969, p. 5):

Cheerfulness was the hallmark of Marijane’s fanac. She wrote friendly letters, and when we met eight years ago she was excited and happy. She had a nurse to accompany her and ’’Clarence”, her wheel chair, on the plane, and she dropped in to visit here at Garden Grove after meeting Bennie Edwards, Ann Chamberlain and other fans in other parts of sourthern California. She was a cheerful lady despite the pain of arthritis.

Bill Mallardi recalled her in Mimosa 21 (December 1997, p. 42):

I had been reading science fiction for more than six years, when in 1958 I picked up a prozine and saw an ad in the back from a female named Marijane Johnson asking for correspondents, and mentioning a club of SF fans, the N3F. Being 21, I wrote to her thinking she was a young, pretty single gal, kind of hoping to start a friendship with a bit of romance to it. To my surprise, it turned out Marijane was a bed-ridden woman in her 40s, with a severe form of childhood rheumatism, a bad spine and occasionally even on oxygen. She had an electric wheelchair with all kinds of straps and gizmos on it, plus an intricate metal lift that got her in and out of bed, etc. She called the chair 'Mr. Clancy'. Janey had a personality that wouldn't quit, so everyone called her 'Sparkle-Janey'.... 

Meanwhile, back in the N3F, many Neffers, including Joni [Cornell] and I, had taken up a collection to get the aforementioned Sparkle-Janey to attend Seacon, since she lived in nearby Spokane. (This was in addition to the TAFF fund, won by England's Ella Parker that year.) Our fund was large enough to buy Janey plane tickets, etc., and she said later she only spent $10 of her own money the whole time. (It would be Janey's first and only con -- she passed away a few years later.)

After the plane tickets were bought, unknown to us, Janey's protective parents talked her into not going, fearing for her care and safety. It so happened that Bjo and John Trimble were coming back from Billings, Montana, and decided to stop in and see if Janey needed anything for the trip, but her parents almost didn't let them in the house! Talking persistently and promising that we fans would give Janey 24-hour-care or hire a professional care-giver, plus the fact that the plane tickets were already purchased, they finally succeeded in getting them to agree, much to Janey's delight.

Dick Eney picked Janey up at the Seattle Airport, and from then on Joni, Phil Freedman, Jane Jacobs, Ralph Holland, Al Lewis, Gem Carr, and I plus many others, took care of her at Seacon. The hotel also furnished a babysitter for Debbie [Joni's daughter] and Janey while Joni went to some of the con affairs and nighttime parties, plus Mr. Clancy and the lift were constantly in use.

Joni even made a costume for Janey for the Masquerade Ball; she went as "Queen of the Cats" -- Joni dressed her in a long green robe, with a silver cat's head on her bosom and a crown on her head. Even Mr. Clancy was dressed up with a coat of foil feathers on the sides. (Joni was in big demand by others, too, to help them with their costumes.) I volunteered to push Janey the three times around the Ballroom with the other costumed fans; she grinned like a Cheshire cat. Joni ended up winning the prize for 'The Most' category, which means she had on the least.

Janey missed a lot of the con activities because she tired so easily, so she missed the banquet and Heinlein's Guest of Honor speech. Joni had put her to bed, leaving some money for Ralph Holland to use to buy her a big dinner. Later, Joni came rushing in before Janey fell asleep, saying she had a visitor. To her surprise in walked GoH Robert Heinlein himself! Joni and Phil sat on the floor, while Heinlein sat in a big chair. Soon Buz and Elinor Busby, [[Poul Anderson|Poul] and Karen Anderson, Sylvia White, and others walked in.

Heinlein stayed almost three hours talking and relaxing until 2 AM, and told Janey he felt more "unwound" than he had all day. It thrilled Janey no end, and just like a lot of things at the con, I'm sure Joni was involved in some way or another. The last day of the con Joni packed Janey's luggage for the flight home, but we still had her birthday to celebrate; Phil brought the punch makings, and Bjo showed up with a cake. We lit the candles and sang "Happy Birthday", then Sandy Cutrell and Ted Johnstone brought guitars and filk songs were sung. Rumor has it that Forry Ackerman even had an alcoholic beverage!

She ran a business making photo stamps, where people sent in snapshots that were printed on perforated paper stickers.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Janey's Journal

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Person

1920—1969

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