Jean Holmes

Fan
Name:	Jean Holmes
Alias(es):
Type:	zine publisher and zine editor
Fandoms:	Starsky & Hutch and Sentinel
Communities:
Other:
URL:
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Jean Holmes was a Starsky & Hutch and Sentinel fan. She produced the S&H letterzine Frienz for a number of years in the 90's, as well as the Starsky & Hutch Adzine & Newsletter, and frequently attended conventions. She died of cancer in 2002.

Fans Remember Jean

Jean may have been quiet, but she was a doer in fandom. When the editor of the long-running SH letterzine, Frienz, needed to pass the zine on, Jean took it over. She was also a major contributor to the SH Lending Library.

Jean was a quiet person. She wasn't that well known. But she loved Starsky & Hutch, and she worked hard to promote the fandom and give other fans avenues to continue enjoying the fandom even when it wasn't on the air. Jean was a member of our SH family -- part of our neighborhood -- and we have lost someone special in her passing.

From Elaine H.: Jean was a major S&H and Sentinel fan. She produced the S&H Letterzine for a number of years in the 90's, and also the Starsky & Hutch Adzine & Newsletter, and she loved to attend cons. She was a very quiet person, and loved to sit in the back of a room of fans and listen to what everybody else had to say. But she always loved to be where the action was.

From Kath Moonshine: I can't express how important Jean's contribution to fandom was to me--I belonged to Frienz, that beloved ole paper letterzine. It was so exciting to find it in my mailbox! I remember how wonderfully connected I felt to my fandom, even fans in far away countries, when I would open up the letterzine and see names old and new. It was such a pleasure to craft a response to the last issue's comments. It even inspired me to draw a Starsky & Hutch cartoon. The fact that Jean kept Frienz going for so long--long enough for me to discover it not long before the explosion of net fandom--is something I'll always appreciate.

God speed, Jean. Your frienz will always remember you.

From Linda Cabrillo: Jean was very reserved, but she loved Starsky and Hutch and did a lot for the fandom. When the show hadn't been aired in about a decade and fandom had become very small, she cooperated with me on the production of a "We're Alive!" flyer to be distributed at cons. Anyone remember "Yes, Virginia, there IS a fandom for Starsky and Hutch"? She allowed her name to be listed as a contact person for those interested in finding more about Starsky and Hutch. As you say, she published the letterzine for years, in addition to sending out regular listings of SH zines available. And when we decided to start a Lending Library, she was right there, running ads in Frienz and contributing to copying so we could expand our inventory. I'm glad I had the chance to get to know Jean. I'll miss her!

From Candy Apple: Jean . . . was one of my early contacts in S&H, as I subscribed to the adzine and found the information to order some of my first zines back in 1995 and 96, when I was just getting my feet wet in fandom. She was a woman of few words, but she was always helpful, friendly, and willing to provide information to clueless newbies. ;) I saw Jean at MediaWest a few times, and wish now I'd taken more time to draw her out to chat a little. Knowing she had passed on, I noticed her absence at the S&H panels this year. She was a quiet person, and didn't draw a lot of attention to herself, but she had a wonderful spirit of service toward the fandom. And service without the need for a lot of resulting attention or credit is something really special. Thanks for all you did, Jean. We'll miss you.

On May 4th a listsib posted about the loss of a long-time SH fan, Jean Holmes.... Jean, a quiet person, was less-well known, preferring to be active in other ways. I don't know that I ever met Jean in person. I might have. I don't know. And that pains me, because we were sisters in our love for this show. And lately, it seems, everywhere I turn, Jean shows up in my home.

Jean may have been quiet at cons, but she was a doer in fandom. When the editor of the long-running SH letterzine, Frienz, needed to pass the zine on, Jean took it over. Frienz was in business for 10 years, an excellent record, and Jean was at its helm for the last four. Letterzines were the original "discussion lists". Before the internet, people put out digest or full-sized zines full of people's snail mail letters focusing on fannish issues, photocopied articles about favorite stars, and in general encouraged communication among fans and kept fandoms alive when it wasn't so easy to find your favorite show on TV. People were able to get episode tapes through letterzines, share zines, plan fannish get-togethers, advertise cons, especially smaller single-fandom cons, communicate about the production schedules for zines, and, yes, argue furiously with each other. I'm fortunate enough to have a collection of the issues of Frienz that Jean edited, and they are beautifully produced. These were digest sized with artwork, stories, articles, and of course, letters. Being a letterzine producer was akin to being a list-mom, only harder, since there were publishing deadlines to meet. You couldn't depend on folks writing in, you had to prod and cajole them to do so. Everyone *intended* to write, but deadlines crept up before folks would remember, and the letterzine editor would have to stay on top of folks to make sure there was *something* to publish. Jean's letterzines overlapped with the development of the internet, so many of the people who might've used Frienz to communicate were suddenly turning to the more immediate net. Yet, she managed to keep the letterzine going until November, 1998, when she turned it over to a British fan, and the zine turned into the Me and Thee Times.

I wouldn't want to face putting VP on paper and turning it into an attractive mini-zine every few months. Jean's lovely letter zine is a treasure, and I've read it often. I had no trouble finding it on my desk when I wanted to talk about her.

Jean was also a major contributor to the SH Lending Library. I've just finished a big (long overdue) mailing for the library, and kept finding Jean's name in front of me in the pages that acknowledged the contributor of individual zines. Her zine contributions will help keep her name alive in fandom as long as the lending library exists. I'm pleased about that. Because Jean was a quiet person. She wasn't that well known. But she loved Starsky & Hutch, and she worked hard to promote the fandom and give other fans avenues to continue enjoying the fandom even when it wasn't on the air.

Jean wasn't a member of VenicePlace, like some other listmembers we've mourned. But she was a member of our SH family -- part of our neighborhood -- and we have lost something special in her passing. I wanted to take some time during a quieter moment for us to pay tribute to her.