James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott in the original Star Trek and subsequent films, died early July 20 at his Redmond, Wash., home, the Associated Press reported. He was 85.

– Sci Fi Wire — The News Service of the Sci Fi Channel

Although he really didn’t do much other than Star Trek … I, for one, shall miss him.

Ginny and I were recently watching “Trekies”, which is a documentary on the Star Trek fan phenomenon, and there was a wonderful story that Mr. Doohan related … it was about a letter he received from a very despondent woman who was considering suicide … he told her that he was going to be in their city in a few weeks … and that she should come to the convention.

This continued for many years … each time, Mr. Doohan told her that she should come to the next convention.

For a while Mr. Doohan didn’t hear from her … but then, out of the blue, he got a letter from her indicating that she had just graduated from college with a degree in engineering.

Pretty cool.

Warp speed James … warp speed.

[tags]Scotty[/tags]