This was on the OSFCI and ORYCON mailing lists.
Sharin
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2001 20:12:52 -0800
From: Page Fuller <
page@prodigy.net>
To: "'
osfci-l@osfci.org'" <
osfci-l@osfci.org>
Subject: OSFCI-L: Peggy Kennedy
Dear friends, (with the usual apologies for our multiple list
duplications)
In talking with another fan this evening, I realized that word had not been
sent out to fandom in general about Peggy Kennedy. She died December 13
after battling cancer for the past year. I was fortunate to be her friend
and I am including her obituary for those who are interested.. We are
having a wake for her this Sunday, January 6 at Marc and Patty Wells home,
beginning at 3pm. The address is:
9923 SE Nancy Ct
Portland, OR 97266-7258
Page Fuller
Peggy Kennedy
Born 16 December 1929 - Died 13 December 2000
Margaret (Peggy) W. Kennedy, nee Wiener, died three days short of her 71st
birthday from cancer. Family and friends will attend her interment and wake
on January 6, 2001.
For those who didn't know her well, she was oftentimes an enigma, first
appearing prim and proper and then turning about into more than a bit of a
bawd. Her creative sense came forth in a number of different ways. She was
a costumer par excellance, a gourmet cook, a musician, and a writer.
She loved her cats, her friends, her family, and her husband who passed
away almost six years ago.
She was also a very logical, science-minded individual which can be
evidenced by her business career.
Peggy Kennedy was born in Arlington, Massachusetts, December 16, 1929, and
grew up in the Boston area. She attended Tufts University, was a Sigma Xi,
and earning a degree in chemistry. Between labs she hung around the
theater, conveniently located right next to the Chemistry Building and
managed to get elected to the honorary dramatic society. Following a year
in England, she earned a master's degree in biochemistry at Boston
University, where Isaac Asimov, a reader on her Master's thesis, wrote
mildly improper limericks for her during dull seminars. She moved to
Chicago where she attended her first World Science Fiction Convention,
ChiCon 3 in 1962, and first met Patrick (Pat) Kennedy. Their marriage
lasted happily until Pat's death in 1995.
For over 30 years of her career, Peggy carried out basic research on
steroid hormones, supported by grants from National Institute of Health and
the Atomic Energy Commission. She obtained a Ph.D. in Toxicology from
Albany Medical College and worked as a forensic toxicologist in the New
York State Police Crime Laboratory for seven years until she retired.
There she analyzed tissue specimens for drugs and poisons, and testified
in court as an expert witness.
Both Peggy and her husband Pat were well known at science fiction
conventions in the costuming and masquerade competitions. She co-wrote,
with Pat, the definitive book on running masquerade competitions known as
the Kennedy Compendium. She received the International Costumers Guild
Lifetime Achievement Award. Peggy competed in the Master Division, was
Masquerade Director for three WorldCons and several regional and local Cons
and was a Judge or Workmanship Judge at many WorldCons, CostumeCons and
local Cons. In 1997, she produced her last WorldCon Masquerade.
A Founding Member of the Greater Portland Area Costumers' Guild, Peggy had
been a member of the International Costumers' Guild for many years and was
a lifetime member of the ICG's NY/NJ chapter, The Sick Pups.
Peggy had a lifelong love of music. She sang in many choral groups
including her church choir, The Masterworks Chorus in New Jersey of which
she was a founding member, and sang in the Worcester Festival Chorus,
directed by Sarah Caldwell, as well as other classical groups. She also
played the piano.
In 1988, she competed in and won the Jeopardy! Senior Tournament - Alex
Trebek mentions her in The Jeopardy! Book.
She also traveled extensively: to England, France, Mexico, Germany, Egypt
and when a child, to Beijing, where her father, Norbert Wiener, noted
mathematician, was a visiting professor at Tsing Hua University. A
biography about her father is being written and will be published soon.
Peggy had begun making plans to visit China again when she became ill.
Cats were a big part of her life. There were never less than two and often
more in her home. Waiting on numerous Siamese was a love of hers, naming
them was a joy. Her last three cats were Theseus, who died in August, and
Zhenxi and Ieyasu who have been adopted by a fellow costumer.
Survivors include her sister Barbara Raisbeck and her five children,
Peggy's nephews and nieces.
Peggy and Pat moved to Portland, Oregon in 1992. She and Pat joined with
local convention runners, working at OryCon, Oregon's annual Science
Fiction Convention. She was also a member of St. John the Baptist
Episcopal Church.
For the last five years, Peggy was a member of the Portland Writer's Group,
a Science Fiction and Fantasy Critique Group. As a writer, Peggy had
completed two fantasy novels and was working on the third of this trilogy.
Her first novel, Dragon's Clutch, will be published in early 2001 by
Panisphere Books & Audio of Eugene, Oregon. Their website is:
www.panisphere.com. Her book will be available on-order through the Ingram
Books distribution system. People wishing to order the book will be able
to do so through any bookstore. Information on ordering her book will be
posted as soon as it is available at the Oregon Science Fiction
Conventions, Inc. (O.S.F.C.I.) web site: www.osfci.org.
Peggy wanted to help other writers and set up all proceeds from her book to
go to the Clayton Medical Fund, an emergency medical fund for Pacific
Northwest writers. More information is available at the website:
www.osfci.org/clayton/index. It is suggested that all remembrances go to
this fund.
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