Norman F. Stanley

(May 1916 -- October 22, 2016)

Norm Stanley was a fan from Maine who was very active in the 1940s. He was a member of the Stranger Club (and was one of the members who attended Noreascon 3 as Fan GoH).

He was tangentially involved in the Skowhegan Junior Astronomical and Rocket Society, the sort of science-and-SF club which was common at the time, and offered to let members borrow from his 70-bound-volume sf library.

He attended early conventions such as Philcon and some of the early Boskones. He also participated in Mainecon Jr, a "conference" in the language of the times, in 1943 with the Dreaded Claude Degler. He was still active enough in the late 40s to attend Torcon, but there is little evidence of fanac after 1950.

His major fanzine was Fan-Tods, which ran for 19 issues and was published in FAPA, Vanguard and circulated outside. Harry Warner describes him as "a power force in FAPA." He also published Beyond with Roscoe E. Wright.

Fannishly, he was very much in the sense-of-wonder camp. He remembered that when his mother told him about Hiroshima, "I confess my first reaction was one of elation, which even the obvious misgivings couldn't quench. 'Geez, we might blow up the whole planet,' I thought, 'but it's still wonderful.' "

In the 1940s, he was a member of N3F and chaired the club's long-range planning committee.

He was an original member of First Fandom and was elected to the First Fandom Hall of Fame in 2013.

He passed away on October 22, 2016, at the age of 100, putting him on the list of Most Senior Fans. (He is not close to being the longest in fandom, but is certainly high on the list of longest-lived people who were once active fans.) He told friends that he attributed his longevity, in part, to having Shredded Wheat for breakfast every morning.

A tribute by Jon D. Swartz appeared in the November, 2016 issue of N3F's The National Fantasy Fan Volume 75, Number 11. Another tribute appeared in First Fandom's Scientifiction (New Series #50, 4th Quarter, 2016.

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