Birthdate, birthplace, and early residences
Thomas Vincent Jr. was born on April 14, 1932 at the Philadelphia
Stomach Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. He was named after his father. His
grandfather, Samuel Palm, came to visit the newborn and said he wanted young
Tom to be called "Mike" because he looked so Irish. Perhaps you
will agree with Grandfather Palm after you look at an early picture
of him. His first residence was in an apartment on Church Lane in Yeadon, PA in 1932. There are a couple of neat pictures of "Mike" with his Uncle Sam. At about age 4 his parents moved to Clifton Heights, PA to live with the Yarnall grandparents at 126 Berkley Avenue (on maps) or Berkley Street (in census sheets). He lived in a number of places during that
time (a home in Clifton Heights at 126 Church Street in 1938, briefly the Syphard home in Darby with just his mother in 1939, the Yarnall grandparent's home on Berkley Avenue again in 1940 (a census year), an apartment in Clifton Heights at 20 Maple Terrace in 1940-41-42. He should be listed in the 1950 census (when it is released to the public in 2022) in the household at 25 School Lane, Springfield, Delaware County, PA. In 1940 when we were living at 126 again there was a big snow storm. We have a picture of a place where he went to be helpful.
Grade School years
"Mike's" grade school years are described in his father's and mother's sections of this project. While living at Maple Terrace he had a double dose of scarlet fever starting in September of 1940 until January 1941. He missed a lot of school, but still managed to pass. In the summer of 1943 the family moved to 25 School Lane in Springfield, Delaware County, PA. Some neat pictures were taken at the School
Lane house. One shows the three brothers at Easter when "Mike" was
in 6th grade.
High
School years
"Mike" graduated from Springfield High School in 1950.
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He was on the cross country team in the fall and on the track team in the spring.
He did manage to break the 5 minute barrier twice for the mile run. Some of his track results were in the Chester Times newspaper sports section in 1949 and 1950.
He earned his varsity letter and received the treasured pin on the right as a memento.
We have a picture of him practicing for his spring track meets.
He was a member of the National Honor Society.
He was
the vice president of his class.
He was the center fielder on the summer
league baseball team.
He was president of the ushers at St. Steven's Presbyterian
Church.
He was in the Boy Scouts and reached the rank of Life Scout.
On the senior class trip to Washington DC he won the race to the top of the Washington Monument. Another display of being in good shape was when he fixed a flat on one of his uncle's cars. |
Other award pins. |
Below is the pin for perfect attendance at Sunday School.
The white part is for one year.
The wreath is for two years.
Hanging from the wreath were bars for years three through five.
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College years
"Mike" earned a scholastic scholarship to Muhlenberg College in
Allentown, PA based on financial need, SAT scores, and his high school performance.
He graduated in 1954 with a B.A. degree in Liberal Arts with a major in
economics. He lettered in soccer. In his senior
year, he was co-captain of the soccer team and president of his class. We
have pictures of him in those roles during
his college years. He was called Tom by folks outside the family and Mike by family members.
Jobs during youth
From age 12 until age 16 he was a caddy during the summers at the Rolling
Green Golf Course in Springfield, PA. He was also a paperboy year round and sold magazine subscriptions (Saturday Evening Post). His dad was his "search firm" as a bartender. He could offer free drinks to patrons who could give his son a job. Some of the craziest jobs were picking up trash cans and putting their contents in a trash truck (that lasted one hour in a hard rain) and keeping the floors clean at a bubble gum factory (that lasted about two weeks). His better summer
jobs were great experiences. He was a laborer at the Westbrook Park housing development (scraping dropped plaster off of subflooring) and
a sub-flooring contractor with high school classmate "Hop" Harrigan in Clifton
Heights, PA at age 17. We were paid for each floor we laid. We worked long days in the hot summer sun because the more we did, the more we earned. He was a carpenter's helper for custom home builder (Charles
Held) in Springfield, PA at age 18. He was a roofer's helper and an electrician's helper in two small housing developments in Springfield, PA at age 19. He was a cook's helper on an Atlantic Refining oil tanker at age 20. At age 21 and 22 Tom worked on the assembly line of Ford Motor Company in Chester, PA thanks to his Uncle Sam. During his college years he sold portrait services to college students by going to other campuses. He also worked two nights a week from midnight to 8:00 am as a billing clerk for Arbogast and Bastian. On many Saturdays he was selling men's clothing and accessories at the Allentown Eugene Jacobs haberdashery store. |
