Fannish Profiles: Rose Beetem
Jun. 20th, 2003 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mishalakThis is a new item for my random fanzine, Miffed. I think it would be useful to profile fans in Colorado to introduce local fandom to the world at large and provide a who's who for locals. For this first one I interviewed Rose Beetem, who is both a local BNF and also my best friend. That made it easy for me to persuade her to agree to be my first victim.
Rose was aware of fandom from a very early age as her mother, Doris "The Elder Goddess" Beetem was a fan and at least marginally involved in fandom. But as with many fans in Denver at that time they really got involved when Camille Cazedessus placed an announcement in the local newspapers for a December 1968 meeting to organize the Denver Area Science Fiction Association. Rose was at that meeting with her mother and older sister, Dee, and has been a Dasfan ever since.
And really that's the most important feature of her life in fandom, longevity and tenacity. Where other fans have quickly burned themselves out Rose has maintained a high level of fannish activity for the last 35 years. She is one of only two people to attend every Milehicon. She continued to regularly attend DASFA meetings even when she moved to Karval, a small town two hours from Denver, to teach school after college. And while in living in Karvel she even started a little convention, the renowned Karval Kon, in 1978.
At various times she's been Director of DASFA, chairman of Milehicon, editor of DASFAx, head of Programming for Milehicon, and even run the Art Show in the early days of the convention. The only thing that she was not part of was the 1981 Worldcon bid, though many people assume that she was crazy enough to have been part of that endeavor.
When I asked her what she was most proud of out of all this she answered that she really loves she has encouraged someone to try something new. Like when she gets someone new to be on a panel at a con and the person has a great time doing it.
Rose currently serves as Publicist for DASFA and the Programming Chair for Milehicon. She lives in West Highlands in Denver with her husband Dave Gibbons, three cats, and an incredible collection of videos, memorabilia, and over the top snow globes. Our favorite fact about her is that she almost unfailingly records her favorite shows onto tape and since they're often our favorite shows we can still catch up when we miss an episode. Her interests include books, X-files, Buffy, and Angel.
Rose was aware of fandom from a very early age as her mother, Doris "The Elder Goddess" Beetem was a fan and at least marginally involved in fandom. But as with many fans in Denver at that time they really got involved when Camille Cazedessus placed an announcement in the local newspapers for a December 1968 meeting to organize the Denver Area Science Fiction Association. Rose was at that meeting with her mother and older sister, Dee, and has been a Dasfan ever since.
And really that's the most important feature of her life in fandom, longevity and tenacity. Where other fans have quickly burned themselves out Rose has maintained a high level of fannish activity for the last 35 years. She is one of only two people to attend every Milehicon. She continued to regularly attend DASFA meetings even when she moved to Karval, a small town two hours from Denver, to teach school after college. And while in living in Karvel she even started a little convention, the renowned Karval Kon, in 1978.
At various times she's been Director of DASFA, chairman of Milehicon, editor of DASFAx, head of Programming for Milehicon, and even run the Art Show in the early days of the convention. The only thing that she was not part of was the 1981 Worldcon bid, though many people assume that she was crazy enough to have been part of that endeavor.
When I asked her what she was most proud of out of all this she answered that she really loves she has encouraged someone to try something new. Like when she gets someone new to be on a panel at a con and the person has a great time doing it.
Rose currently serves as Publicist for DASFA and the Programming Chair for Milehicon. She lives in West Highlands in Denver with her husband Dave Gibbons, three cats, and an incredible collection of videos, memorabilia, and over the top snow globes. Our favorite fact about her is that she almost unfailingly records her favorite shows onto tape and since they're often our favorite shows we can still catch up when we miss an episode. Her interests include books, X-files, Buffy, and Angel.