Editing Bjo Trimble

{{short description|Science fiction fan}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = <!-- use common name/article title -->Bjo Trimble
| image         = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] -->
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| caption       = 
| birth_name    = Betty Jo Conway<ref name="startrekcom_part1"/>
| birth_date    = {{Birth date and age|1933|08|15}}<ref name="startrekcom_part1"/>
| birth_place   = [[Holdenville]], [[Oklahoma]], U.S.<ref name="startrekcom_part1"/>
| death_date    = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date)  -->
| death_place   = 
| nationality   = 
| other_names   = 
| occupation    = Writer, small business co-owner
| years_active  = 
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}}

'''Betty JoAnne Trimble'''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-25 |title=Bjo Trimble: The Woman Who Saved Star Trek |url=https://www.startrek.com/news/bjo-trimble-the-woman-who-saved-star-trek |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=www.startrek.com |language=en}}</ref> (née '''Conway'''; born August 15, 1933), known as '''Bjo''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|iː|dʒ|oʊ}}, {{respell|BEE|joh}}),<ref name="Gerrold">{{cite book|author-link=David Gerrold|author=Gerrold, David|url=http://www.benbellabooks.com/gerrold/Tribbles.pdf|title=The Trouble with Tribbles: The Birth, Sale, and Final Production of One Episode|orig-year=1973|year=2004|publisher=BenBella Books |location=Dallas, Texas|pages=286–287|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050516173104/http://www.benbellabooks.com/gerrold/Tribbles.pdf|archive-date=May 16, 2005|isbn=9781322776828|oclc=901190328|url-status=dead}}</ref> is an American [[science fiction fandom|science fiction fan]] and writer, initially entering fandom in the early 1950s.

== Introduction to fandom ==
Trimble's introduction to [[science fiction fandom]] was [[10th World Science Fiction Convention|TASFiC]], the 1952 [[Worldcon]]. She was serving in the [[United States Navy]] at [[Naval Station Great Lakes]] and happened to see an announcement in ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'' about the upcoming convention that weekend. She met a number of other science fiction enthusiasts, including [[Robert Bloch]], [[Willy Ley]], and [[August Derleth]]; and claims that [[Harlan Ellison]], "this bespectacled young man who had just sold his first short story", "decided he liked me and proposed on the spot." (She declined.) When it was discovered that she was an artist and cartoonist, she was recruited to contribute illustrations for [[science fiction fanzines]]. Trimble says that she met future husband John Griffin Trimble under [[Forrest J Ackerman]]'s piano, where several fans had taken refuge during a particularly crowded party. "John was in the Air Force, so he and I traded Stupid Office Stories and discovered we liked each other a lot."<ref name="startrekcom_part1">{{cite web |url=http://startrek.com/article/bjo-trimble-the-woman-who-saved-star-trek-part-1 |title=Bjo Trimble: The Woman Who Saved Star Trek - Part 1 |website=StarTrek.com |date=August 31, 2011 |access-date=February 21, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913222714/http://www.startrek.com/article/bjo-trimble-the-woman-who-saved-star-trek-part-1 |archive-date=September 13, 2011 }}</ref>

== Fan activities ==
Trimble helped revive a flagging [[Los Angeles Science Fiction Society]] (LASFS) in the late 1950s.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}} In 1958, she put together the "Worldcon Futuristic Fashion Show" at Solacon, the 1958 [[16th World Science Fiction Convention]]. She ran once again in 1966 at Tricon, the [[24th World Science Fiction Convention|24th Worldcon]], incidentally giving fandom a glimpse of three early ''[[Star Trek]]'' costumes. Trimble started and directed "Project Art Show", the first modern [[science fiction convention|convention]] art show, in 1960. The success of Project Art Show led to art shows becoming a profitable part of most conventions, large and small.<ref name="conjose"/><ref name="tymn">{{cite book |author=Tymn, Marshall B. |author-link=Marshall Tymn |title=The Science Fiction Reference Book: A Comprehensive Handbook and Guide to the History, Literature, Scholarship, and Related Activities of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Fields |location=Mercer Island, Washington |publisher=[[Starmont House]] |year=1981 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sciencefictionre0000unse/page/110 110, 114] |oclc=421833302 |isbn=9780916732493 |url=https://archive.org/details/sciencefictionre0000unse/page/110 }}</ref>

The Trimbles were part of the successful "Save Star Trek" campaign, generally credited with allowing the series to run for a third season rather than being canceled after two.<ref name="Gerrold"/> They also helped with the campaign to have the first of [[NASA]]'s [[Space Shuttle]]s named [[Space Shuttle Enterprise|''Enterprise'']].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/28146/enterprise-first-space-shuttle | title=Enterprise: The First Space Shuttle | date=July 5, 2011 | website=[[Mental Floss]] | quote=Star Trek fan Bjo Trimble already had experience in mobilizing trekkers; she had spearheaded a fan campaign to save the original Star Trek series from cancellation in 1967. That effort stretched the show's run into a third year. Trimble organized Star Trek fans in a new campaign to name the first space shuttle Enterprise instead of Constitution. The White House received somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000 letters urging the name change (although some estimates go as high as 200,000). | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317014211/http://mentalfloss.com/article/28146/enterprise-first-space-shuttle | archive-date=March 17, 2015 | access-date=February 21, 2017 }}</ref><ref name="startrekcom_part2">{{cite web |url=http://startrek.com/article/bjo-trimble-the-woman-who-saved-star-trek-part-2 |title=Bjo Trimble: The Woman Who Saved Star Trek - Part 2 |website=StarTrek.com |date=September 1, 2011 |access-date=February 21, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008200653/http://www.startrek.com/article/bjo-trimble-the-woman-who-saved-star-trek-part-2 |archive-date=October 8, 2011 }}</ref> Their efforts earned them uncredited roles as a crew members in ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]'', along with a contingent of other members of [[science fiction fandom|fandom]] who were allowed to serve as extras in full costume, portraying crew members (both human and alien) in the Recreation Deck scene (at the time, the largest number of persons ever appearing in a single ''Star Trek'' scene).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Mitchell, Charles P. |title=Star Trek: The Motion Picture | encyclopedia=A Guide to Apocalyptic Cinema | publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing]] | year=2001 | page=219 | oclc=939685133 }}</ref> Her other film credits include [[makeup]] design for ''[[Flesh Gordon]]''; and a role as 'Ma Cant,' a satirical version of [[Superman]]'s [[Martha Kent]], in a film short called ''Superbman: The Other Movie''. {{Citation needed|date=February 2019}}

Trimble contributed to the first encyclopedic collection of data for ''Star Trek'', the ''[[Star Trek Concordance]]'', which contains cross-referenced details on every character, setting, event and device in every episode of the original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'', and, in later editions of the book, its [[Star Trek: The Animated Series|animated]] incarnation and the ''Star Trek'' [[Star Trek (film series)|films]].<ref name="concordance">{{cite book|title=The Star Trek Concordance |url=https://archive.org/details/startrekconcorda0000trim |url-access=registration | author=Trimble, Bjo  | location=Secaucus, NJ |publisher=Carol Publishing Group | year=1995 |orig-year=1976|oclc=31707514 | isbn=9780806516103 }}</ref> The first edition of the book was self-published in 1969, followed by a supplement in 1973 and a mass-market printing in 1976 by [[Ballantine Books]]; the work was subsequently updated for a new edition published by [[Citadel Press]] in 1995. According to former ''Trek'' archivist Richard Arnold, the ''Concordance'' was used as a primary source of official [[Canon (fiction)|canon]] by writers of the ''Star Trek'' Universe when he first started working at Paramount.<ref>{{cite newsgroup |title=Richard Arnold: The Interview, part 1 |author=Timothy W. Lynch |date=1991 |newsgroup=rec.arts.startrek  |url=https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.startrek/browse_thread/thread/6aa057ad1c473b62 |access-date=2009-09-21}}</ref> In 1982, Trimble published a memoir of her experiences in ''Star Trek'' fandom entitled ''On the Good Ship Enterprise: My 15 Years with Star Trek''. 

In 1974, Trimble was among the first group of winners of the [[Inkpot Award]] by [[Comic-Con International]]. Trimble received the [[Big Heart Award]] in 1964,{{Citation needed|date=February 2019}} and (in her [[persona]] of '''Flavia Beatrice Carmigniani''') the [[Society for Creative Anachronism]]'s Order of the Laurel, an art award. Bjo and John are also both members of the SCA's Order of the Pelican for service. (She and John were Baron and Baroness of the SCA's Barony of the Angels [Los Angeles Chapter of the SCA] from September 2008 until January 2012.) She and John also received the International Costumers Guild's Lifetime Achievement award.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bjo and John Trimble: 1992 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient |author=International Costumers' Guild |date=1992 |url=https://costume.org/wp/icg-lifetime-achievement-award/bjo-and-john-trimble/ |access-date=2023-08-03}}</ref> The Trimbles were celebrity guests at [[InterCon]] in Utah, 1976. Trimble was Guest of Honor at 1995's [[DragonCon]], the 6th [[North American Science Fiction Convention]], as well as at many other science fiction and ''Star Trek'' conventions around the world. Bjo and John Trimble were the Fan Guests of Honor at the 60th [[Worldcon]], [[60th World Science Fiction Convention|ConJosé]].<ref name="conjose">{{cite web |url=http://www.fanac.org/conjose/Guests/fans.html |title=Guest of Honor - Fans - John & Bjo Trimble |website=Fan History Project - Archive of ConJosé website |date=August 29, 2002 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040921181229/http://fanac.org/conjose/Guests/fans.html |archive-date=September 21, 2004 |access-date=February 21, 2017 }}</ref>

The Trimbles, who owned and operated the business Griffin Dyeworks & Fiber Arts until 2015,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.griffindyeworks.com/about-us/|title = About Us – Griffin Dyeworks & Fiber Arts}}</ref> lived in [[Southern California]].<ref>[http://bjotrimble.blogspot.com/2006/12/about-griffin-dyeworks-fiber-arts.html Trimble, Bjo. "About Griffin Dyeworks & Fiber Arts" bjotrimble blog]</ref> In April 2024, it was announced John had died.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Trimble, Bjo | year=1983 |title=[[On the Good Ship Enterprise: My 15 Years with Star Trek]] |location=Norfolk, Va. |publisher=Donning |isbn=9780898652536 |oclc=10510433}}
* {{cite book |author=Trimble, Bjo | year=1995 |orig-year=1976 |title=The Star Trek Concordance |url=https://archive.org/details/startrekconcorda0000trim |url-access=registration |location=Secaucus, NJ |publisher=Carol Publishing Group |isbn=9780806516103 |oclc=31707514}}

==External links==
* [http://www.griffindyeworks.com/ Griffin Dyeworks & Fiber Arts]
* {{IMDb name|0872856}}

{{Inkpot Award 1970s}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trimble, Bjo}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Hughes County, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Star Trek fandom]]
[[Category:Writers from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Fan labor]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Inkpot Award winners]]
[[Category:United States Navy sailors]]
[[Category:Writers from California]]