Tom was great drummer. He wasn't recognized for that as much as he should be. One summer I helped him put a set of headers on a Mustang in his parents basement garage. Once we were done with that but before we mounted the rest of the exhaust system, he started the car with the headers open and it was so loud it shook a mirror off of the wall upstairs. His dad came downstairs grinning. Wow! It was loud and it was a nice car. I saw him for the last time at the 25th reunion. RIP Tom.
Tom and I both went to WVIT after graduating from CHS. We started hanging out together. Tom had this little red Fiat that he cleaned and poslished all the time. He really loved that car. We used to take dates out together. One night we were in South Charleston, he was in his llittle red Fiat and I was in my Turquoise Dodge Dart with the push button gear shift on the dash. We were at a stop light in front of the FMC Ordinance Plant, I looked over at Tom and he looked at me, and we started to rev our engines grinning at each other like crazy drag racers. The light turned green and we both took off. Next thing I saw was Tom's little red Fiat running into the back of a Chrysler New Yorker. An old woman (probably around 45 or so) go out of her car and started raising Holy Crap about how her car was torn up and she was goiong to sue. Tom got back into his dented little red Fiat and backed up to assess the damage. One of his Fiat's head light was dangling, had burnt out with smoke drifting lazily over the hood, and the hood was dented where it hit her bumper.. Her car had a clean spot on the bumper. She took one look at all the damage to her car, shook her head and drove off after considerable comment about our driving skills. Tom and I went to the bar, drank beer, and stewed about our drag race on MacCorkle Ave the rest of the night. Tom loved his cars!
Dang! So sorry to see one of my best buds is all too soon now deceased!
I have lots of great memories w/"my boy"!
We both attended "Boys' County" Honor Camp when we were transitioning from 7th to 8th grade (I think) at TJ...where I "protected" him from asstd. bullies & also from our "mean" [not really, just his "role" to bust the chops of all us "smarty pants", methinks!] old (college-aged?) camp (our barracks') counselor, as well! We were bunk mates, too, as we had originally just been in adjoining bunks, but I'd gotten stuck w/a slobbering dumbkoff, & he w/a large, smelly numbnuts, so we quickly strongly suggested (insisted upon, actually, w/that same barracks sgt hardass, pleading that we were very best friends at TJ, &, considering the two we were in insufferably stuck with [the guy actually "cringed" in empathy, viewing the evident losers blankly staring in space in unsociability so evident] so, hey, pls/pls/pls?! [that would've been moi, natch, but still!] A swap was approved [if only I'd stop chewing up the scenery, seemingly sighed Sarge, figuring I was gonna be a handful as it were, so WTF! Hahaha!! Done deal! Hot damn!
Also, still at TJ, though, & if I'm remembering correctly, he was a member of our talent show-winning band at TJ, too: "King Curtis (Price) & His Noble Knights"! I'm sure we all went out to his lovely suburban house & practiced a day or more in the expansive basement, w/his charming parents & sweet younger sibs entertaining a bunch of us blackfolk w/snacks, their abscence whilst we practiced, & then later even joining in an effusive family dinner, too!
He, me, & Hoppy (Joe) Stephenson were quite the inseparable Terror Trio, too, for a number of years, including at CHS as well as TJ!...I really don't remember as to quite why -- other than those two were already tight -- & I was as pushy -- & adorable -- then & now, so there ya go!
Tommy dressed as well & as pristinely preppy as did myself (it's not bragging if it's true, so said me mum, so there ya go)! (Exemple gratis: He's one of the preppy classmates verily gleaming there on the CHS front steps on the frontspiece page of our Yearbook, so check him/them out! (Truth be told, we most all were well-dressed, monogrammed, Bass Weejun'd, buttoned-down Oxford shirted, pressed slacks sorts! Not a pair of blue jeans or sneakers to be seen, so there!)
I got to see Tommy again after graduation, only once, at our 10th Reunion...he was all laid back & bemusedly/clandestinely just "checking me out" -- what w/me being all effusively "social" & gabbing it up w/mostly all my home gals from the hood --- until as I spun around (as I was wont to do, doncha know) & excitedly spotted him, having hoped I'd get to see him [& Hoppy! - but no] -- Tommy, still so cute & demure & seemingly mostly unchanged (including signature horn-rimmed specs!), & so natch, I shouted/shrieked out his name, he smiled knowingly, as I then verily dashed over & swept him up, hugging him heartily (to his slight chagrin, & most probably why he was so reticent aforehand, but there ya go..hahaha)...& yet we got to catch up just a bit (before he then had his chance to mingle (or "flee far & wide") w/others, the shy sweetie, so still so like me -- wait! WTF? Scratch that, as I'd been residing within wild & wooly SF for the entire 10 yrs hence, so I really don't think that I could've then or now ever be considered "shy" -- maybe "sly?! Whatever, homies! Luff ya's all to pieces, so there!
Well, you betcha, I sure loved this swell guy -- & so again, I was ever so distressed & down to see that he'd already passed away! Dang!
Does anyone know as to what precipitated his demise?? If so, please fill me in; it would greatly help me for my own closure, seriously.
Edward Long
Tom was great drummer. He wasn't recognized for that as much as he should be. One summer I helped him put a set of headers on a Mustang in his parents basement garage. Once we were done with that but before we mounted the rest of the exhaust system, he started the car with the headers open and it was so loud it shook a mirror off of the wall upstairs. His dad came downstairs grinning. Wow! It was loud and it was a nice car. I saw him for the last time at the 25th reunion. RIP Tom.
David Strader
Tom and I both went to WVIT after graduating from CHS. We started hanging out together. Tom had this little red Fiat that he cleaned and poslished all the time. He really loved that car. We used to take dates out together. One night we were in South Charleston, he was in his llittle red Fiat and I was in my Turquoise Dodge Dart with the push button gear shift on the dash. We were at a stop light in front of the FMC Ordinance Plant, I looked over at Tom and he looked at me, and we started to rev our engines grinning at each other like crazy drag racers. The light turned green and we both took off. Next thing I saw was Tom's little red Fiat running into the back of a Chrysler New Yorker. An old woman (probably around 45 or so) go out of her car and started raising Holy Crap about how her car was torn up and she was goiong to sue. Tom got back into his dented little red Fiat and backed up to assess the damage. One of his Fiat's head light was dangling, had burnt out with smoke drifting lazily over the hood, and the hood was dented where it hit her bumper.. Her car had a clean spot on the bumper. She took one look at all the damage to her car, shook her head and drove off after considerable comment about our driving skills. Tom and I went to the bar, drank beer, and stewed about our drag race on MacCorkle Ave the rest of the night. Tom loved his cars!
Stephen Boles
Dang! So sorry to see one of my best buds is all too soon now deceased!
I have lots of great memories w/"my boy"!
We both attended "Boys' County" Honor Camp when we were transitioning from 7th to 8th grade (I think) at TJ...where I "protected" him from asstd. bullies & also from our "mean" [not really, just his "role" to bust the chops of all us "smarty pants", methinks!] old (college-aged?) camp (our barracks') counselor, as well! We were bunk mates, too, as we had originally just been in adjoining bunks, but I'd gotten stuck w/a slobbering dumbkoff, & he w/a large, smelly numbnuts, so we quickly strongly suggested (insisted upon, actually, w/that same barracks sgt hardass, pleading that we were very best friends at TJ, &, considering the two we were in insufferably stuck with [the guy actually "cringed" in empathy, viewing the evident losers blankly staring in space in unsociability so evident] so, hey, pls/pls/pls?! [that would've been moi, natch, but still!] A swap was approved [if only I'd stop chewing up the scenery, seemingly sighed Sarge, figuring I was gonna be a handful as it were, so WTF! Hahaha!! Done deal! Hot damn!
Also, still at TJ, though, & if I'm remembering correctly, he was a member of our talent show-winning band at TJ, too: "King Curtis (Price) & His Noble Knights"! I'm sure we all went out to his lovely suburban house & practiced a day or more in the expansive basement, w/his charming parents & sweet younger sibs entertaining a bunch of us blackfolk w/snacks, their abscence whilst we practiced, & then later even joining in an effusive family dinner, too!
He, me, & Hoppy (Joe) Stephenson were quite the inseparable Terror Trio, too, for a number of years, including at CHS as well as TJ!...I really don't remember as to quite why -- other than those two were already tight -- & I was as pushy -- & adorable -- then & now, so there ya go!
Tommy dressed as well & as pristinely preppy as did myself (it's not bragging if it's true, so said me mum, so there ya go)! (Exemple gratis: He's one of the preppy classmates verily gleaming there on the CHS front steps on the frontspiece page of our Yearbook, so check him/them out! (Truth be told, we most all were well-dressed, monogrammed, Bass Weejun'd, buttoned-down Oxford shirted, pressed slacks sorts! Not a pair of blue jeans or sneakers to be seen, so there!)
I got to see Tommy again after graduation, only once, at our 10th Reunion...he was all laid back & bemusedly/clandestinely just "checking me out" -- what w/me being all effusively "social" & gabbing it up w/mostly all my home gals from the hood --- until as I spun around (as I was wont to do, doncha know) & excitedly spotted him, having hoped I'd get to see him [& Hoppy! - but no] -- Tommy, still so cute & demure & seemingly mostly unchanged (including signature horn-rimmed specs!), & so natch, I shouted/shrieked out his name, he smiled knowingly, as I then verily dashed over & swept him up, hugging him heartily (to his slight chagrin, & most probably why he was so reticent aforehand, but there ya go..hahaha)...& yet we got to catch up just a bit (before he then had his chance to mingle (or "flee far & wide") w/others, the shy sweetie, so still so like me -- wait! WTF? Scratch that, as I'd been residing within wild & wooly SF for the entire 10 yrs hence, so I really don't think that I could've then or now ever be considered "shy" -- maybe "sly?! Whatever, homies! Luff ya's all to pieces, so there!
Well, you betcha, I sure loved this swell guy -- & so again, I was ever so distressed & down to see that he'd already passed away! Dang!
Does anyone know as to what precipitated his demise?? If so, please fill me in; it would greatly help me for my own closure, seriously.
RIP to you, Tommy, my forever fond friend!
Love, Steve Boles