Tom’s grandparents, Henry and Martha, raised their family in middle Ohio in a different era when grandmas baked homemade pies with cherries from Mr. Starkey’s tree next door while grandpas smoked cigars in the living room while reading the evening newspaper.
A big Friday night included a bucket of Colonel Sanders chicken and on the 4th of July, a town parade. When the grandkids were in town, Henry gave each a dollar to spend in town. Past the town fountain (sometimes filled with bubbles) they walked unsupervised across a busy road, where drivers stopped and waved, to what seemed like heaven on earth: the local five & dime.
