International Viewpoints (IVy), Issue 35 - January 1998

George Hay
by Terry Scott, England

A personal obituary

GEORGE HAY left us on 3rd October 1997, four days short of his 75th birthday. Latterly, his home had been in Hastings, on the south coast.

In the early 1950s, George was the Secretary of the British Dianetic Association, and he wrote to L. Ron Hubbard asking him to come to England. Ron took up the invitation.

Eventually, George trained in London org, worked at Saint Hill during Ron's time there, and was one of the early Power Releases.

From late 1966 to early '68, my wife and I resided in London, about 15 minutes' walk from George's flat on West Green Road. We visited him and his family regularly: one flight up -- cats and books...and George's personality gently dominating the front room.

The last time we actually met was in 1972 or '73, when he bought a camera in the Dixons shop in Fleet Street, London. But around the late '80s, I re-established contact with him through my activities in the independent field.

Letters flowed between us and, now and then, we phoned one another. I was writing for IVy and Synspunkter, and in 1992 launched a series of conferences. He never got to a conference, but did write for IVy. His most recent piece was Getting Back on Track in IVy 32, pages 20-22.

He and I shared various interests: Scientology in its best aspects; a love of good English; and "sci-fi," science fiction.

George was the founder of the Science Fiction Foundation here. A day or two before writing this obit, serendipity(!) I chanced across a hefty reference book on sci-fi, and under "George Hay" is a long entry which confirms his status.

A few months ago, George sold me some old copies of Astounding and Analog science fiction magazines. These were edited by John W. Campbell Jnr., who had some importance in L. Ron Hubbard's career. George hoped that I would write up some of Campbell's thought-provoking editorial ideas for IVy, and that sounds fine to me, and Ant has expressed interest. All being well, something on those lines will be done.

George Hay deserves broader acknowledgement in our field. His is not one of the gee-whiz names in Scientology, yet he played a significant role in the early days.