Tom "Spider" Boyd's hood carving
Location 99
Date: 1980's
Owner: Erin Keaton
This box of wood-carving tools belonged to my Papa, Tom Edward Boyd, who passed away in 2012. Tom was the coolest. He worked for Conrail as a switch operator from out of high school until he retired. He grew up in Toledo, OH, but moved with his family to Millbury in the 50s. He was brave and fun and always generous with his interests, which grew all the time. While working for Conrail he befriended hobos, who he helped ride the rails. He was very close to Steam Train Maury Graham and Gypsy Moon, the King and Queen of the Hobos in the 90s. They made him an honorary hobo and gave him the hobo name "Spider" because he was ”tall and skinny, like a daddy long leg." After retirement, Tom took to wood-carving. This is his wood-carving set, complete with my Grandma Imo's prescription bottles full of spare blades. Papa also flew single-engine airplanes, found a doctor's class ring while metal-detecting, painted, beat super Mario and Addams Family and Zelda with me on his super Nintendo, drag raced cars and motorcycles at Toledo speed ways, and made cassettes of himself playing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" to waitresses he thought were cute. If I had my druthers, I would have brought it all.