I am very sad to hear about Leonard Nimoy’s passing. My path only crossed briefly with his – when I moderated his panel at the Emerald City ComicCon 2010 (just days after my knee injury and surgery) and briefly again in Calgary that same year, where this picture was taken.

Mr. Nimoy was quite literally a gentleman and a scholar. So erudite and with a laugh that made those around him feel at ease. (When he laughed at my joke about having broken my knee fighting crime on the moon, it was probably the first time I’d smiled since the injury.)

It is an understatement to say it was a great honor for me to be onstage with him for an hour, and the time backstage, brief as it was, is a treasured memory, as are the kind words of support he whispered to me after I introduced him at the panel, as he walked onstage. He both honored his Trek fans while unapologetically sharing the other sides of him, the poet and the artist.

It wasn’t until after my meetings with Leonard that I was cast in Where No Man Has Gone Before, and began my own four-years-and-counting journey on the Enterprise. It’s probably a good thing that these things happened in such an order – if it were the reverse, I might have been a hopeless fangirl instead of a relatively composed professional (on crutches).

Rest in peace, Mr. Nimoy. Thank you for sharing your light.