Thursday, October 20, 2011

"A shovel in his hands and a poem in his heart"


Bobby Thompson lived a long, colorful life with an easy smile, little stories about people and places he's been, a few tall tales, quiet faith and a shared enjoyment of a good cup of coffee. He lived the American Twentieth Century as the guy with a shovel in his hand and a poem in his heart. He sailed freighters to far-off lands, labored for the railroads, laying track and blasting rock. He was a steeplejack, truck driver and boxer. Bobby hopped freight trains all over America and could tell you about a little diner along the way, or a bridge he used to swim off of on a little stream somewhere. He would occasionally come home to Stonington for a while and maybe have dinner with one of his brothers, and then stick his thumb in the wind for another adventure. More recently than he should have, Bobby was known to celebrate the lost art of hitchhiking.

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