[Deathwatch] R. A. Lafferty, science fiction author, 87

[Deathwatch Central]

An entire collection of obits for R. A. Lafferty is available at: 

   http://www.mulle-kybernetik.com/RAL/obit.html

Tulsa sci-fi author dies at 87
2002-03-21
The Associated Press

TULSA -- R.A. Lafferty, an award-winning and prolific science fiction
author, has died in a Broken Arrow nursing home. He was 87.

The World Science Fiction Society gave Lafferty its Hugo Award in 1973
for his short story "Eurema's Dam." 

He also won the 1995 Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award by the
Oklahoma Department of Libraries for excellence in a body of literary
work. 

His other works include "Past Master," a novel published in 1968; "Okla
Hannali," a historical novel published in 1972; other historical,
science fiction and fantasy novels; and nearly 200 short stories. 

Lafferty was born Nov. 7, 1914, in Neola, Iowa. He attended the
University of Tulsa and was a longtime resident of Tulsa. 

His funeral is planned Friday, said Crystal Urias, a spokeswoman for
Fitzgerald's Funeral Home. 

His science fiction novels included "The Reefs of Earth," "Space
Chantey," "Fourth Mansions," "The Devil Is Dead," "Arrive at
Easterwine: The Autobiography of a Ktistec Machine," "Not to Mention
Camels, Apocalypses, Archipelago, Aurelia" and "The Annals of Klepsis."


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R. A. Lafferty (1914-2002)
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Raphael Aloysius Lafferty passed Monday, March 18th, after an extended
illness. The Funeral Mass will Friday, March 22 at 11:00 AM at Christ
the King Catholic Church, South Quincy at 16th, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Internment will be that afternoon at 2:00 PM in Mount Carmel Catholic
Cemetery in Perry, Oklahoma.

Lafferty was born in Neola, Iowa, but moved to Perry, Oklahoma at the
age of 4. He didn't start writing until he was in his late 40s. His
first published science fiction was "Day of the Glacier" which appeared
in The original Science Fiction Stories in 1960. Over the next 20 years
he wrote over 200 short stories and over 20 novels. At least 19
collections of Laffrey's work were published.

He stopped writing following a stoke around 1980 and following a more
severe stoke in 1994 was very inactive. He spent the last years of his
life in the Franciscan Villa Health Care Center in Broken Arrow,
Oklahoma.

Lafferty's work won many awards including the Phoenix Award, the Hugo
(1972 for "Eurema's Dam," World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award and
the Arell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Posted March 20, 2002