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 stroke around 1980 and following a more severe stroke 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