Embarrassing National Tom Sawyers Days Photos From My Past (Part One)

It's time that the truth be told.  I was a Tom Sawyer.  The year 1979 to be specific.  Many of us males who were born in Hannibal have gone through this ritual.  If you enter seventh grade and have even a hint of red hair, you are forced by city ordinance to give a speech and then your fellow students vote to determine if you're worthy to be a "Tom Sawyer".  I was "fortunate" to be one of the final five in 1979.  And, I have the photos to prove it.

In the second picture, I am holding an apple and a fishing pole.  The good part of this picture is I hadn't yet appeared in public.  That was about to change.

In the third picture, the public mocking began.  I am pictured with the other Tom and Becky candidates standing outside of a building.  The girl in the far right on the third pic (Cindy) can now be found laughing at your electric bill at the Hannibal Board of Public Works.  (Tell her I sent you)  And in the fourth pic, me and Jenny Viorel-Hilbert stand somewhere hot in downtown Hannibal.

I'll continue this parade of family humiliation tomorrow.  You have been warned.