Current mood:

sad

Passing of a Legend


James “Scotty” Doohan died this morning at the age of 85 from pneumonia and Alzheimer’s.

Man, that’s sad.

Back in my freshman year of high school a friend in my German class asked me if I wanted to go to a Star Trek convention with him. Having always been a sci-fi junkie I decided I’d go. He then told me that the guest speaker would be James Doohan, otherwise known as Scotty, chief engineer for the original Star Trek cast.

Scotty was the best part of the day downtown! He had a fantastic stage presence, incredibly open with that great booming voice. On stage he told a couple stories from the day, and then stories about how after Star Trek he was stuck, and would always be type cast as “Scotty” no matter what he did. So eventually he just accepted it.

He told a story of how he once accepted a guest speaking spot in some little town in the middle of nowhere, and when he got there they were all excited, and eventually this one lady timidly asked him why he came, with the explanation of “No one ever comes here”to which he replied smiling, “You asked me to!”

Later while standing in line to have him sign my copy of Mr. Scotts Guide to the Enterprise, I watched him. Yes, he was being paid to be in Chicago, to speak for an hour or so on stage, and then to sign autographs, but he was not what you’d expect from your typical celebrity. Every fan he saw he greeted with a warm and genuine smile, he’d listen to their stories, talk to them for a moment, and sign whatever they had. You could easily tell that he was genuinely happy to meet every person there, and it was so nice.

Hours later leaving the main convention floor we wandered out and saw that he was at the end of the signing line. Someone from the convention staff interrupted him for a moment. When he turned around you could tell he was tired, the toll of several hours worth of signing was obviously exhausting, and yet when he turned around he still greeted the next fan with the same genuine smile, listening to their story, and signing their item.

You could tell he was one of those people that could easily make your life better just by being a part of it.

Rest in peace Mr. Doohan.