Tom Dromey Loved 4th of July, Education, Family and Country. Joyful Musings on 250th

July 5, 2026 - 03:30

If Tom Dromey were alive today, he would be 99 years old. But given that he died from a heart attack at 55, he would not have been a "good" 99. He could not swim. He never went to the dentist. He did not own a pair of jeans. And after our nightly dinner, he used baked potato skins as ashtrays.

These small, stubborn habits defined a man who cared little for convention and deeply for what mattered. Tom loved the Fourth of July. He saw it not as a day off for barbecues, but as a living reminder of what it meant to build something from nothing. He believed in education the way some people believe in religion -- not as a path to a job, but as a way to stay curious, to question, to grow. He taught by example, not by lecture.

Family was his quiet anchor. He showed up. He listened. He made sure the people around him knew they were seen. And he loved his country with a practical, unsentimental patriotism. He did not wave flags or give speeches. He just believed that America was worth the work.

As we look toward the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it is worth remembering men like Tom. Not the famous ones. Not the ones with monuments. The ones who lived their values in small, daily ways. The ones who used potato skins as ashtrays and never went to the dentist, but who understood what freedom and family and learning really meant.