Sandy Zier

Fan
Name:	Sandy Zier
Alias(es):	Sandy Zier-Teitler
Type:	founder of OktoberTrek, zine editor
Fandoms:	Star Trek
Communities:
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Sandy Zier-Teitler was a zine editor and con organizer.

Sandy passed away in 2021.

Con Organizer

• OktoberTrek (1990-1992)

Zine Contributions

• Communications Console
• The DeForest Dispatch
• Mind Meld
• Whalesong
• Vault of Tomorrow
• Voyages

Sandy's Fannish Journey

In October 2012, Sandy wrote at great length about her fannish journey:

Sometime in 1982 I walked into a video store (those were the days of VHS tapes), and I was renting a Star Trek movie. The girl behind the desk asked me if I liked Star Trek. That girl was Michelle Holmes. Why bring this up when I’m talking about Contact? Because it’s her fault (or to her credit) that I ever got involved. We talked about Star Trek. She asked me if I knew what a fanzine was. No, I said. Well, she lent me a few of hers and one of the first ones I read from start to finish was an issue of Contact. I was hooked. Big time. Some of the stories I admit took me aback a little… they weren’t “Star Trek” as I knew it, but they were character stories… stories that showed the friendship between these men. Regardless of the plot used, those friendships always won out.

As they do in fandom. Well, We won’t talk about how much money I sent with Michelle to the next MediaWest, so she could buy me more zines.

I subsequently wrote to Bev and Nancy at the address in Michelle’s copy of Contact, wanting to order the most recent copy. I included my mailing info as well as my phone number. A couple days later, I received a phone call from Bev. [...]

About Passing the Convention Torch: OktoberTrek Becomes Farpoint

Comments from Steven H. Wilson:

[...] ... Sandy gave her little speech, (“It’s time for me to pass the baton.”) and, at the appropriate time, I opened my mouth to speak. The committee heard the words, “Well, okaaaaaay. I guess it’s time I stepped up.”

Yeah, those words did not come from me. They came from my mother-in-law, Bev. I understand your confusion. We were about the same height.

Sandy had not talked to Bev about taking over, thinking that, since Bev had retired from the committee, she wouldn’t be interested in coming back to be the con chair. But she was interested in doing just that. She wanted a crack at it. (I am here today to tell you that people who retire from the committee and decide to come back are not to be trusted!) But the committee agreed that Bev should be the new chair, and that I should be the one handling the money. Seemed like a good compromise. For a while.

I should confess that, for the first ten years that we knew each other, my mother-in-law and I did not have a relationship that resembled a mill pond on a hazy summer day. We were both driven, creative, hard-working… and bossy. It wasn’t until the Fall of 1995 that we sat down and signed a treaty of sorts, agreeing on our sovereign territory so that we stopped stepping on each other’s toes and actually became allies. (And we did become allies.) But this was 1992, and we were still at odds. After many hectic months of butting heads, Bev realized that she wanted to be a grandmother more than she wanted to be a con chair, and that running Farpoint meant more to me than it did to her. So she stepped back. She always —always! — supported me. Until the day she died. But she did step away from that thing that was making us clash.

Back to Sandy, who was a calm, long-suffering presence throughout the Volker-Wilson clan’s growing pains. Now that OktoberTrek was legally dissolving, there was no one to be the party of the second part in the five-year contract Sandy had signed with Marriott’s Hunt Valley Inn. There were two years left on that contract. Oh, there was an out clause. If Sandy canceled immediately, as I recall, there would have been no penalty. Hotel banquet contracts usually have a sliding scale. In January, you agree to pay, say, $10,000 to use the premises and have the support of the staff on December 1st. If you cancel your event by February 1st, you might not have to pay anything. If you cancel 180 days out, you pay $5,000. If you cancel 90 days out, you pay $7500. After that, you may as well just have the event, cause you’re gonna owe the whole 10K anyway.

With the multi-year contract, I think there was an out-clause for zero dollars if Sandy canceled by November 1st. But, now that Bev, the committee and I were going to start Farpoint, she didn’t want to cancel. She wanted us to be able to take advantage of the price she had locked in back in 1990 for another two years.

Great? Great.

Except…

That meant Sandy could not dissolve OktoberTrek, Inc. without paying the hotel bill, which was about $13,000.

OktoberTrek did not have $13,000.

Sandy could have declared bankruptcy, dissolved the company, and left Marriott’s Hunt Valley Inn holding the bag. A lot of convention backers would have done just that. Never mind the fact that it would mean that Hunt Valley Inn would not trust future conventions. Never mind the fact that it would mean Farpoint probably couldn’t get off the ground, and Shore Leave would have been in for a world of hurt. A lot of convention backers would have said, “Too bad, so sad, hope I didn’t make ya mad.”

But Sandy believed in this crazy convention tradition we had all started years before. Sandy believed in fandom. Sandy believed in her family. And that was us.

So Sandy paid off that $13,000 debt out of her own pocket. She did it so all of the rest of us could have Farpoint. And, 28 years later, we still do.

She also made me promise not to tell anyone.

Sorry, big sister, but I only promised not to tell while you were here to chase me down if I broke my promise. You decided to up and leave me, so…

So I want everyone to know just what kind of person you were. The kind of person who threw herself into debt—on a limited income, while supporting her family members—just so her friends and extended family could keep having the time of their lives once a year.

That was my adopted sister, Sandy Zier-Teitler.

You know that Bible verse, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things?” It’s probably my all-time favorite. Whenever I hear that from now on, I’m going to think about Sandy.

Live Long and Prosper (Dammit!)

Tributes

It is with much sorrow that we say goodbye to our beloved Sandy Zier-Teitler, longtime Farpoint co-chair and even longer time friend. Sandy was one of a kind, a true fandom legend who will be missed. Her passion for Star Trek was only equaled by her love for Washington football! 😢

I first met Sandy in the 80's when I moved back to the area and wound up joining the ClipperCon committee thanks to my meeting Marion McChesney. After the final ClipperCon the core group reformed with Sandy taking the lead and Bev Volker acting as her 2nd. Our new name was OktoberTrek and we had some great years working together on that. At that time I was freelancing as a dealer at cons and it was Sandy that first gave me the chance to run our Dealers' Room. Thanks to Sandy's friendship with De & Caroline Kelley we were able to have De appear twice (I think). When Sandy stepped down the core group behind OktoberTrek regrouped as Farpoint and Sandy eventually became Co-Chair. Marion McChesney had previously been the Chair. Now Marion, Bev, and Sandy have all left us. Fandom is a sadder place. However, now that they're back together they're probably organizing the best-ever Trek convention with all of those guests that have gone before. De Kelley & Sandy back together again!