Recently "The Bard", Eddie Lark, was advanced to "Adept" on the Virtual Templar Way. "An Adept", Eddie, has posted over 300 articles to our TFA Forums creating a Virtual Templar Library for those who choose to visit our web site. Eddie, "An Adept", Lark shares with us some of who he is. Congratulations to Adept Eddie!

I have always been interested in world history, archaeology, anthropology and related subjects since I was 12 years old when I lived in Anchorage, Alaska, also known as Earthquake City number 1. I was lucky enough to have some excellent school teachers in those early years of my life that influenced my interests in history and anthropology. I believe that those wonderful scholars started me on my way to what I call my adventures.

I could not wait to “see the world” and to begin the grand adventures I had always dreamed about. I was seventeen years old when I joined the Navy and after 2 years active duty I joined the Army. The Navy was my source for travel to Asia, and the Army was necessary for visiting Europe. The Navy didn’t always fulfill my fantasies though - I was always seasick. That and it was also dangerous, especially during the Cuban Missile Crisis where two Russian Bears (bomber/surveillance planes) followed us around.

I was a Navy Air Plane Captain responsible for a war plane on an aircraft carrier. Sometimes I found myself in places where I did not know where I was, but wherever the aircraft went, I went.

I was lucky enough to visit Hawaii, Hong Kong and other strange places (like Diego Garcia and Atsugi, Japan - a U2 base).

I took fundamental college courses at local Junior Colleges when I was stationed in the Continental US and continued these courses when I was transferred elsewhere in the Army. The Army sent me to Northwestern University, Police Command and Staff course, but not for the courses I wanted to take. For some unknown reason I have never taken any history or anthropology courses and that was a big mistake. Much later I had to learn what I needed by taking the college courses I wanted and other studies through my own intensive work.

And then Europe – where Medieval History was born! My ancestors were Moravian Prussians and that area was so familiar that I felt like I had lived another life there many centuries ago. I was attached to the State Department in Berlin for 5 years where I had the opportunity to take “adventure drives” to The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and other countries in between. I once took a trip in a boat up the Rhine river with 8 of my friends, which turned out to be a bad adventure – especially when the Dutch Navy rescued us (that trip was much too embarrassing to explain here).

Europe was where I became interested in Medieval History. After all, I was right in the middle of it, but impossible to see and visit everything. Cathedrals were my first love and I visited several famous ones. The organ music was superb, especially in Cologne. Castles came next on my list, although I did not get to see very many.

When I finished my tours of duty in the military I decided that I wanted to be a police officer where there were adventures galore. Since my many years as a police officer in two cities (Fort Worth, Texas and Los Angeles, California – I just can't seem to escape those Earthquakes) did not concern Medieval History, I will leave those stories for another time.

Just before I retired I needed something to keep me busy. I was doing a great deal of historical reading when the Templars suddenly popped-up and caught my interest. I have always been interested in historical aspects, not fantasies. The different religious dogmas and such never attracted me except for historical events, such as the Cathars and the Albigensian inquisitions.

I met several others interested in the same events on forums and we started our own study club. Nigel Foster, Anneke Koremans and I still keep in touch. After ten years actively involved with our little study club I became, courtesy of Nigel and Anneke, acquainted with many knowledgeable authors, whose names I cannot mention here. That was an extra! Any time we needed an answer or opinion they could always come up with an expert’s knowledge.

I had no place to store study material for use, so I opened my first website – Templar Chronicles. After 400+ articles there I had to open another and another to store all our study material. Most of this I have transferred to Templar Fellowship of America; 300 articles of it so far. I am looking forward to adding more study material in the future.

It is my wish that we could get together on the Forums and have everyone’s input, pro and con. This way we can all share our knowledgeable material and learn. It’s fun!

Thanks Eddie!