The Living Legacy of a 14-Year-Old

This month marks the 35th anniversary of my joining the Cincinnati scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars, the Tankerville Club.

That's more than half of my life and most of the history of the Tankerville Club. It's been a great ride. Paul Herbert founded the Tankerville, named after the only club mentioned twice in the Sherlock Holmes Canon, in the late 1970s. He is still our beloved Official Secretary.

A few other scion societies are much older. It's a treat to read about them in "The Scion Societies" section of the very early issues of The Baker Street Journal.

In Volume 1, Number 4 from 1946, for example, Mr. J.N. Williamson announced the formation of The Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis. "Anyone interested in joining this new Scion must past a test taken from the Complete and Immortal Works," he wrote. Fortunately that rule was not still in effect when I joined the Clients a few years ago!

In 1946, Gerald "Jerry" Williamson was all of 14 years old. Thirty-one years later, he write a horror novel. He eventually published more than 40 novels and 150 short stories in the horror genre before his death in 2005. By that time he had long since left Sherlock Holmes and the Clients behind.

But the club he founded still thrives today, with a large and growing membership under the leadership of Steven Doyle, BSI. That's a funny thing about Sherlock Holmes and endeavors connected with him - they have a way of outlasting the mere mortals who gave them birth.

Just ask the shade of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.