Word has been received that Shirley Maiewski, dubbed ''Grandma Trek'' after heading the pioneering Star Trek Welcommittee information service for fans during 21 of its 26 years, has died at her Hatfield, Mass., home. Services are pending.

Latter-day fans of the e-mail and Internet era who are unaware of the Welcommittee should know that it was the backbone of fandom in the early years, its grass-roots army of volunteers offering information and contacts by mail for fans hungry for the answers to their questions in those raw, early days — and all for just the price of an SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope). The STW grew out of the first Star Trek convention in New York in January 1972; author Jacqueline Lichtenberg had the idea for the service to meet the burgeoning fandom need, and Helen Young was the first chairman. Maiewski — onboard early as a sci-fi fan pulled into Trek at that first con by her daughter and other famous fan Bjo Trimble — became chairman in 1977 and served until the group disbanded as the Internet boom made it all but obsolete in 1998.

Still,  the effect the Welcommittee had on linking and fanning the Star Trek revival movement in the 1970s, and in continuing that as fandom matured through the 80s via the films and the TV rebirth, is incalculable.

The STW had a fully structured organization and procedures, and Shirley was backed by all the many fans who served as department chiefs and volunteer workers across the country (I was a VW for seven of my 10 years as a STW volunteer, answering three letters every month or two, and the trivia DC for the last three). From the central mailroom at Mary Lou Dodge's mailbox in Michigan, relayed through three area captains, these volunteers answered thousands of letters of all stripes — actor contacts, production info, revival rumors, conventions, clubs, fanzines, products, dealers, treknology — and even had a service for pen pals. Booklets were printed on 'zine publishing, convention organizing, club forming, aids for teachers and foreign fans; Paramount even licensed patch sales for the non-profit as a fundraiser to recoup its costs.

And it was the Welcommittee who published the ''Yellow Pages of Fandom'' directory for years, listing 'zines, dealers and fan clubs by state and country — with numbers often quoted by the press and studio alike. Long before the licensed magazines and fiction 'zines dominated fan publishing, the STW's monthly staff newsletter APOTA — ''A Piece of the Action'' — was much in demand by outsiders as well for its timely Trek revival news and fandom info.

I'm glad the Communicator was able to capture Shirley's memories in Issue 143, just little more than a year ago. She also had a short story, ''The Mind Sifter,'' published in ''New Voyagers,'' the original anthology of Trek fan fiction during the Bantam Books era of Trek publishing in the 1970s.

Beyond that, she was a gentle, gracious good-natured soul who represented the best of what Trek and its fandom were about. She enjoyed meeting actors and production staff, but helping fans — and making sure the sprawling, all-volunteer STW ran smoothly for them — was her prime focus, as much as the Trek productions themselves. In that way, the steady and thorough leadership she offered the STW and its grass-roots approach was invaluable as fandom outlasted any cult or a fad-of-the-moment status to became a true and recognized phenomenon, much less a Franchise.

As an East Coaster, Shirley and I only met once in person, at the 1986 KC-Con, but she was always very supportive of me and interested in my writing and projects long after I left my time with the Welcommittee. Others in and out of production, media and publishing will testify to the same ... as well as all her longtime friends in fandom, especially Back East, who will miss her.  They will all make sure her corner of fandom history and the original Star Trek revival is kept alive for today's fan to appreciate.

— Larry Nemecek
Managing Editor, Star Trek Communicator

Shirley Maiewski died Tuesday, April 13, of congestive heart failure at the age of 83. Funeral services will be held Friday, April 16, in Hatfield, Mass. Memorial donations can be made to the Hatfield Firefighters Association or the Hatfield Ambulance. Shirley's husband served with the Fire Department for many years, and her grandson was on both crews. Donations and/or condolence cards can be sent to her daughter, Carole Jackewich, at 481 Main St., Hatfield MA 01038.