By Jimmy Rogers
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Last Thursday, December 18th, 2008, Majel Barrett Roddenberry died at the age of 76.

She was the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, but she had many roles both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.  In The Original Series, she played “Number One” (in the pilot) and “Nurse Chapel,” Dr. McCoy’s assistant.  She was also the lady behind “Lwaxana Troi,” feisty mother of  Deanna Troi,  in The Next Generation and Deep Space 9 (where she was called “Ambassador Troi”).

Roddenberry played the voice of the ship’s computer in pretty much every instance of its use.  You’ll notice that the voice remained unchanged from The Original Series all the way to the later series like Deep Space 9 and Voyager.  In fact, her work is not done.  Shortly before her death, Majel Barrett Roddenberry finished the voiceover work for the new Star Trek movie, which will open next year.

Personally I will always remember her first as Counselor Troi’s mother in TNG, since that was the first role I saw her play.  What a great character!  You’ll be missed Majel.

Here is UserFriendly.Org’s tribute to the first lady of Star Trek:

[via io9 | additional references from Wikipedia]