Lee Hawkins Garby (1892–1953) was the co-author with

Edward Elmer Smith Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965), publishing as E. E. Smith, Ph.D. and later as E. E. "Doc" Smith, was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and science-fiction author, best known for the ' ...

of the 1928 serial novel ''

The Skylark of Space ''The Skylark of Space'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Edward E. "Doc" Smith, written between 1915 and 1921 while Smith was working on his doctorate. Though the original idea for the novel was Smith's, he co-wrote the first part o ...

'', the first science fiction story in which humans left the solar system. She was the wife of Dr. Carl DeWitt Garby, a friend of Smith's from college at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

. The novel was first published as a book in 1946, as ''The Skylark of Space: The Tale of the First Inter-Stellar Cruise'' (Buffalo Book Company(?)), naming Garby and Smith on the title page but Smith alone on the cover —with frontispiece by Charles Schneeman. The

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

catalogs it as "by Edward E. Smith, in collaboration with Mrs. Lee Hawkins Garby"; publisher Southgate Press. A revised edition by Smith alone was published by Pyramid Books in 1958 and reissued many times. From 2007 the original by Garby and Smith has been in print again.

Life

Hawkins was born in Missouri in 1892 and died 1953. She was the daughter of Jameson R. Hawkins (1849–1917) and Julia Valinda Offutt (1857–1929), and had five siblings, William, Sarah Valinda, Ellen, Mary, and Elijah. Doctor Garby was born in Lewiston, Idaho in 1892, the son of Charles Henry Garby (born Germany) and Adelaide Laventia Strickland (born New York). He graduated from Lewiston Normal School in 1910, and was a classmate with Smith in the Class of 1914 at the

, earning a degree in Chemical Engineering. In 1919, Dr. Garby worked for the Bureau of Chemistry in Washington DC. The Garbys had a daughter born in mid-1918. Garby was pregnant and gave birth to her daughter at the same time as Jeannie Smith was pregnant and gave birth to Roderick, and Dr. Smith was completing his studies and his World War I service. How this affected the completion of ''Skylark'' is unknown. Carl Garby received his PhD in Chemistry in 1921 from

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

. Carl Dewitt Garby died in 1928, possibly due to workplace chemical poisoning. Lee Hawkins was appointed a junior clerk at the US Department of Agriculture on March 2, 1929. The Garbys also had a son on June 7, 1920 Dr. Rodes Carl Garby, who contributed interviews regarding the writing of ''

''. Amateur critic " Gharlane of Eddore" described his conversation with Dr. Smith on the writing of ''

'' in a rec.arts.sf.written post in 1998: Garby is acknowledged in some circles as an early female writer of science fiction, but little is known of her life and she made no known contributions to the field beyond her involvement with ''Skylark''. The brief reference to her in ''Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965'' notes that Smith never hesitated to mention either her gender or marital status, always referring to her as Mrs. Garby.Davin, Eric Leif. ''Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926–1965''. Lexington Books, 2006.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garby, Lee Hawkins 1892 births 20th-century American novelists American science fiction writers American women novelists 1953 deaths Women science fiction and fantasy writers 20th-century American women writers