Gina Godwin

Fan
Name:	Gina Godwin
Alias(es):
Type:	fan artist, costumer, fan writer
Fandoms:	Star Trek
Communities:
Other:
URL:
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Gina Godwin was a fan artist, costumer, and occasional fan writer.

Gina died in early February 1988 at the age of 32, a victim of domestic violence.

In 2013 a relative created a DeviantArt account in her name for the purpose of sharing her art.

Fanworks

Zines in which Gina's work appeared include:

• Chamber of the Ages
• The Complete Omicron Ceti III Lyric Book
• Contact Christmas
• Encounters
• Insatiable Curiosity
• Mind Meld
• Trek Movie Special
• Vault of Tomorrow
• Voyages
• Whalesong

Sample Art

1983

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  from Insatiable Curiosity (1983)

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  from Insatiable Curiosity (1983)

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  from Insatiable Curiosity (1983)

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  from Vault of Tomorrow #4 (1983)

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  from Vault of Tomorrow #4 (1983)

1984

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  from The Complete Omicron Ceti III Lyric Book (1984)

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  from Vault of Tomorrow #5 (1984)

1986

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  from Voyages #1 (1986)

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  from Vault of Tomorrow #9 (1986)

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  from Vault of Tomorrow #9 (1986)

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  from Vault of Tomorrow #9, illos by Godwin (1986)

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  from Mind Meld #3 (1986)

1987

• 

  from Voyages #2 (1987)

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  from Voyages #2 (1987)

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  from Mind Meld #4 (1987)

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  from Mind Meld #4 (1987)

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  from Vault of Tomorrow #12 (1987)

1989-1997

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  from Whalesong #2 (1989) (printed posthumously)

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  from Encounters (1997) (printed posthumously)

Death

Gina died in early February 1988 at the age of 32, a victim of domestic violence.

from the 1988 Clippercon program book

In 1988, just a few weeks after her passing, Marion McChesney wrote a tribute in the ClipperCon program book:

One member of our committee loved Star Trek-in all of its form s, and she lived its ideals. She was best known for her graphics and artwork-in particular her T-shirt and program book designs. This year's T-shirt marks her last. We're sad now as we mourn her passing. Gina Godwin was a good friend, and we'll miss her. She lives now in the starry night that she loved. I'll always think of her when I see the lights in the sky

In 1989, the editor of Whalesong #2, brought up some fond memories of Godwin:

We were watching songtapes in our hotel room at Shoreleave IX, in July of 1987. (If you've never enjoyed this particular bit of fannish creativity, you've missed something wonderful. Take videos of the episodes and movies, lay down a soundtrack of a popular record, and cut in special scenes to illuminate the lyrics.) That night, Saturday night of the con, I believe, we were enjoying some songtapes we'd never seen before, ones that highlighted the bond between Kirk and Spock. The hotel room was full of friends, and we were crowded on the double beds, sitting where we could see the TV. We were fairly quiet, each of us letting the emotional beauty of the tapes wash over us. I was sitting next to my roommate at the con, Gina Godwin. Suddenly, Gina sighed, and in a voice thick with tears she gushed, "I love them. I love their love!" We giggled, a little, but we all knew what she meant. We all felt the same way. The pure love, whichever way a fan writer chooses to express it, between Kirk and Spock is timeless, immortal, breathtaking. Few of us here on planet Earth in the twentieth century will ever know something so beautiful, so powerful. But we'd all like to have that kind of love in our lives.

I never knew, that night, that the time we would have to share with Gina was limited. Looking back now, missing her, I wish she'd had the kind of love we saw in those tapes. She certainly deserved it, if anyone did. She also believed in the Star Trek ideal, the hope that we'll somehow make it into the future, that mankind will be around in several hundred more years. And she believed in life out there, thataway. Maybe right now, she's seeing things we've only dreamed about. I hope so. This issue of WHALESONG is dedicated to Gina. It contains a few pieces of her artwork, and the story that bears both our names was completed by me from the fragment she left behind. The wonderful thing about the printed page, it assures that something of us will be left behind to be remembered. It's been precisely a year now, and these things help me feel she's still around, looking over my shoulder as I get this issue ready for the printer.

To all of you who sent condolences, thank you very much. Your thoughts and kind words did help. I hope the readers haven't been made too uncomfortable by my writing about my friend this way; I just felt more needed to be said than what is included on the dedication page. This issue, like the first WHALESONG, is a zine about hope, about survival, about dreams we won't let go.

In 1992, Gina was memorialized in the second issue of Legend's End. From that zine's editorial (which errs in Godwin's death date):

And the character of Gina was inspired by our very dear friend, Gina Godwin, who died in 1987. She was a very big part of Baltimore Trek fandom, an artist, a Trek fan first, last and always. She helped with the final copy typing on Volume I and with the addition of her character in the story, I feel she’s still with us.

Shortly before her own death in 2008, Nancy Kippax wrote the following memorial:

Artist, costumer, worker bee. Young and beautiful, Gina seemed to have it all – a rich doctor husband, an enormous home in Wilmington, Delaware, a toddler son who was the apple of her eye. Gina did costumes and coolie labor on whatever project any of us in the Baltimore area had going. Her artwork graced several zines, and she also designed the program book covers for several ClipperCons. Gina was a true romantic, and she adored Kirk and Spock. She was with us for a short five years before her life was snuffed out; she was a victim of domestic violence.

Also from Nancy Kippax, who wrote of Gina and some costuming fun :

Another category of costumes and performances was known as "Mini-Trek" or "Children's Competition. But it really wasn't a "competition, because con promoters and organizers always awarded some kind of goody bag or small prize to every child who entered. If an older child opted to compete under adult jurisdiction, that was their call, but for the little ones, it was all just for fun. I remember the year our friend Gina Godwin entered her infant son, Jonathan. It was right after the 3rd movie had come out, and she dressed him as "Baby Spock on the Genesis Planet."