Donald A. Redmond
Librarian, model maker, Sherlock Holmes scholar, churchman. Born on May 19, 1922, in Owosso, Mich.; died on Oct. 22, 2014, in Kingston, Ont., of complications of pneumonia, aged 92.
Donald Redmond was a librarian at several universities, but he was probably happiest when he waxed his mustache, put on a black bowler hat, and passed himself off as Inspector Merivale of Scotland Yard.
He did it first in 1978 when Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts from several countries toured Switzerland for two weeks, all in Victorian costume. The inspector appeared again in 1980 and 1981 at Sherlockian workshops in Kingston, Ont., and at other events. It was a chance for him to pause from administration, research, and a career that included teaching library science in Third World countries and writing several articles for the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Don Redmond, my father, read Sherlock Holmes while growing up in the United States and Nova Scotia, from olive-green volumes that he kept all his life. The interest lingered as he studied at Mount Allison University, worked briefly as an industrial chemist, then earned degrees in library science at McGill University and the University of Illinois, and became librarian at what was then the Nova Scotia Technical College.
In 1957, he went to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for a year to help create a science library and train local staff as part of a Colombo Plan development project. That led to a year-long UNESCO assignment in Turkey, followed by a five-year stint at the University of Kansas, and finally two decades at Queen's University in Kingston, including 11 years as chief librarian. His job focused on budgets and managing staff, but he loved to do hands-on work in the rare books department, where he helped build the school's collection of old Bibles.
He married a McGill classmate, Ruth White, in 1948. Their three children (Christopher, Derek and Margi) were brought up in four countries. At a succession of churches, Don was a constant volunteer for committee work and, with his courtly bearing and formal speech, a natural for ushering. At Sydenham Street United Church in Kingston, he served several years as chair of the congregation during a period of crisis and consolidation.
He also returned to Sherlock Holmes, keeping up when I got the Sherlockian bug. Don was invited to join the Baker Street Irregulars of New York, helped the Toronto Reference Library to acquire the nucleus of its Arthur Conan Doyle Collection in 1970, was an early member of Toronto's Sherlock Holmes society, and corresponded with collectors worldwide, using a succession of typewriters. He never touched a computer.
When Queen's gave him a year's study leave, he burrowed into the British Library Newspapers collection to investigate Conan Doyle's sources for characters and incidents in the Holmes stories. That led to my father's 1982 book, Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Sources. His 1990 book about Conan Doyle's publishers was whimsically titled Sherlock Holmes Among the Pirates, referring to "pirate" publishers who didn't pay their authors.
After retiring at age 65, Don was able to devote time to another lifelong hobby – constructing Meccano toys, such as elaborate Ferris wheels and clocks which he exhibited at toy shows. A lovingly accurate model of a fire engine was displayed in his room at the nursing home where he spent his last months. Another prized model, recalling his Nova Scotia roots, was a life-sized Meccano lobster.
Chris Redmond is Donald's son.