It has been several days since Nichelle Nichols passed away. I wanted to wait a few days to share my reminiscences about her.
Today’s the day.
I met Ms. Nichols three times. The first time was when I was assisting DeForest Kelley during the time he lay dying in the hospital. Nichelle came to visit and was a wee bit later than she said she would be. De was running out of energy fast, and expressed to me that he hoped she would arrive soon so he could respond appropriately.
Not long after saying this, Nichelle walked into the room. De beamed and his energy returned. She was ebullient and charming, literally glowing with health and vitality.
Nichelle stayed about 30 minutes until she could see that De was starting to tire. At that point, she kissed him on the cheek or forehead and said a few parting words. He mentioned her “gams” as I recall, and told her he loved her. She smiled and returned the sentiment.
At that point, for some reason, either she or De — one of them — suggested that Nichelle and I go to the hospital cafeteria and have lunch together. I jumped at the opportunity.
We sat, ate, and chatted for well over an hour. She told me how gutted she was about De’s imminent demise. She adored him, saying he was the sexiest man she had ever known because he was such a gentleman (and she added, “…and no, the rumors are not true; we weren’t lovers!” which I had never even heard before).
She also told me that a fortune teller had told her that her legacy would go well beyond Star Trek.
As you know, having read the accolades, that fortune teller was spot on. Nichelle knew she was when she said it. She knew that Star Trek had made her famous, but her other work would make her far more than that.
She told me her plans, but I no longer recall them. We were mostly there in solidarity for De… I felt very comfortable with her. We were sharing an impending sadness that both could already acutely feel.
The Second Meeting
The second time I met Nichelle, I was at some location to receive De’s Gene Roddenberry Award. De received it posthumously, and since Carolyn was hospitalized, I was the designated “fetcher.” (I did the same when De posthumously received the Golden Boot Award.)
The Golden Boot Awards were an American acknowledgement of achievement honoring actors, actresses, and crew members who made significant contributions to the genre of Westerns in television and film. The award was sponsored and presented by the Motion Picture & Television Fund.
The Third Meeting
The third time I “met” Nichelle, I was in the Seattle Space Needle. I had been invited to talk about De at Planet Xpo and then invited to the celebrity gathering at the Needle that evening.
I ascended to the top and walked into the Needle into a throng of Star Trek celebrities, convention organizers, and fans. At one point Nichelle and I came face to face and I said, “Hello!” but I don’t think she recognized me and I felt too crowded and rushed to move on to refresh her memory as to where and how we had met before. She seemed a little confused (this was in 2006), so I don’t know if her dementia had begun to set in by then or not. But I didn’t linger. I wish I had done something more to remind her of our two precious-to-me times together, but she has met literally hundreds of thousands of people, and I didn’t think that reminding her would be of as much value to her as it would be to me, so I moved on.
Being shy, I didn’t interact with anyone in that crowded space, and I didn’t stay long. I remember seeing Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett, Grace Lee Whitney and Marc Lee in the Needle, too, but the crowding made me feel claustrophobic, so I found places up against bulkheads where I could breathe easier.
On a side note, Marc Lee never forgets a face. He is just about the friendliest human being I have ever met. It’s always a delight catching up with him. He seems to keep track of what everybody’s doing. That always astounds me. I hope to get him on EVER NEW at sometime to regale us with his many, many Star Trek and space-related anecdotes. UPDATE: OMG! OMG! OMG! Marc B. Lee has just confirmed that he will be my guest co-host on EVER NEW on August 13th. YOU ARE GOING TO BE SOOOO BLOWN AWAY BY HIM! STAY TUNED!!!
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqZKi-WYHLA
Nichelle Nichols didn’t just inspire little Black girls that they would one day be regarded as extraordinarily valuable during a time when black people were commonly depicted as housekeepers and maids, she inspired me to stand up to a bigoted Southern restaurant owner while I was waiting tables in Meridian, Mississippi at the International Beef House. The man instructed me that although it was now illegal to deny Black people (he called them by another term that I will not repeat here) entry into his place, he wanted me to seat them “in the back, out of sight” so their presence wouldn’t deter white folks from coming in to eat.
I immediately pictured Lt Uhura walking into that place, and said to my boss, “No, sir. You can fire me right now, but I will not do that. I will seat them in the same rotation manner that you instructed me to do with white people.”
He didn’t fire me, and I seated the very few black people who came into that place honorably.
I have been a civil rights advocate since age eight. At the time this happened, I was in my 30’s. There was no way I was going to treat people of color any less well than I treated white people. Not on my watch.
It was the memory of Lt Uhura on the Bridge of the Enterprise that gave me the balls to do that. She inspired me to stand up to bigotry.
For that, I owe her my soul!
I love you, Nichelle. I’m sure De greeted you with open arms when you ascended the other day.
