Charles was nearly 7 feet tall and upon greeting us at the airport, he grabbed Valerie in a bear hug and lifted her off the floor. Shortly after Valerie and I were married, at Charles’ invitation, we flew to Ottawa to visit him and Gene Day. Our mutual love of writing the bond that cemented our friendship. It was a mutual respect we would share for many, years. Truth is I admired a man who had the courage of his convictions and told him that. He wondered if a Vet and Draft Dodger could be friends. When Charles learned I was a veteran of Vietnam, he told me in a very sincere letter that he had felt that conflict immoral and because of that ignored his own draft summon and fled to Canada, where he became a citizen. Whereas both Charles and I were baby boomers having been born in 1946, we couldn’t have been more different in our backgrounds and upbringing. All this was prior to computers and the internet and all of us corresponded by mail. Smith and Kevin Anderson.Īt one point, I was the club’s President and Charles my Vice-President. Among its members were Richard and Wendy Pini, Charles, Gene Day, Gary Kato, Ardath Mayhar, Joe Bonadonna, David C. Eventually I joined a writer/artist group called THE SMALL PRESS WRITERS & ARTISTS ORGANIZATION – SWPAO. Getting involved with fandom, I had several pieces of fiction published in various fanzines including Gene Day’s Dark Fantasy.

My association with Charles goes back to the first few years of my return to civilian life after being discharged from the Army in 1968.

Yesterday, I discovered that Charles had passed away months ago and the news of his death is just reaching the public. Dear Loyal Airmen, what follows is an editor bio of my friend, Charles Saunders, lifted from Wikipedia.

Imaro by Charles R. Saunders