I have no cute space-pun about her death. I am genuinely saddened.
Majel Barrett was the widow of Gene Roddenberry, and was best known for her involvement with Star Trek. She was Nurse Chapel in the original series, and Lwaxana Troi in The Next Generation. In addition, she was the voice of all the computers on The Next Generation and in several of the Star Trek movies.
As a stupid aside, I named my GPS after her. I have a female voice in a machine telling me what to do? I call her Majel, what else?
She was diagnosed with leukemia a short time ago. May she be born again to those she loves.
That is really, really sad.
And I am always struck by the celebrity deaths. Because I assume they represent, statistically, a cross-section of all the deaths? There have been a lot this month.
There is always a sweep in October, December, and January. Before Samhain, before ‘the holidays’, and right after.