(written from a Production point of view)
Joan M. Winston (19 June 1931 – 11 September 2008; age 77), also known as Joanie Winston, was one of a group of people known as "The Committee" who organized the first Star Trek convention. She is also the author of the 1977 reference book The Making of the Trek Conventions.
She gives details of her work with the original convention, as well as her visit to the set as the last episode, "Turnabout Intruder" was being filmed, in the book Star Trek Lives!, which she co-wrote with Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Sondra Marshak. She has also been interviewed by William Shatner in order to contribute to Get a Life!, and can be seen in the documentary Trekkies 2.
Winston continued to attend and speak at Star Trek conventions until 2006, making her last appearance at Shore Leave in Baltimore, Maryland. By 2008, Winston was placed in an assisted living/care facility in central New York State. [1](X) She died there in her sleep on 11 September 2008 at the age of 77. [2] [3]