[From Irv Koch] "Before there was anything else there was Janie Lamb, R.I.P. I did a con called Janiecon at her house and then went into the Army. When I came out, Jim Corrick III and I started a club...which turned into something else and eventually died. [...The present] godmother [of Knoxville fandom] is Chloie Airoldi. Vern Clark was a previous godfather." [Vern put on the highly successful Satyricon 2, DSC 21 in 1983.--TKFW] [From Curt Phillips] "Knoxville has had at least 5 separate fan groups that I know of and I've been told there were several others. Chloie's is the only one that's lasted any length of time. [...] Janie Lamb was a tremendously important fan in the '50s and early '60s who is nearly forgotten today, probably because she devoted most of her fanac to the NFFF. I know that Janie gafiated after a house fire destroyed her huge fanzine collection (and nearly killed her) and she died in the early '70s." [From Ned Brooks] "I was at the Janiecon that Irv mentions--somewhere there is a flyer or ad for it where she promises to serve attendees skunk fried in possum grease, or perhaps the other way around. I also knew Janie Lamb as the benevolent dictator of the NFFF. She lived in a house full of books and guns back behind Knoxville--her husband collected Lugers and she collected SF and Marie Corelli, a curious occult novelist of the early 1900s. Wally Weber (who was living in Huntsville then) was at that con, too, and we sat up all night watching his 8mm worldcon movies."
ConCat 9 (November 28-30 '97) Radisson Summitt Hill, Knoxville, TN. Guests: Barbara Hambly, George Alec Effinger, David & Lori Deitrick, Patricia Kennealy Morrison. Membership: $20 to 6/10/97, $25 to 11/10/97, $35 at door. Info: 316 E. Scott Ave., Knoxville, TN 37917. (423) 637-6564 or (423) 523-6986 (Chloie@ Mr. Sandman); e-mail: ChloieA@aol.com. Website: http://members.aol.com/knoxsf/cradle