Hanover man rode motorcycles until he was 94. 4 former Ledger paperboys turn 80
HANOVER − It started out as just another motorcycle ride on his Yamaha 650. Tom Grono left home in the late morning Sept. 2 on one of his regular hourlong rambles around the South Shore.
"I usually go to Scituate and watch the boats come in, or the Plymouth waterfront, or the Cape Cod Canal and sit there," he said. "It's so relaxing. That is the enjoyment I have for the day and then I go home." He's been doing these rides about twice a week for many years.
This ride, however, was different. It was a pleasant day, in the 70s, and heading south on Route 3A in Plymouth, he was not far from the canal when he saw a pickup truck speeding toward him. The truck veered across the center line and "was coming right at me."
Tom swerved to the right side of his lane and then came back too far, crossing the center line and hitting the side of the car behind the truck, which had sped off.
He barely felt the impact. His motorcycle stayed upright, but when he stopped it to get off, he realized he couldn't move his left foot. He looked down and his sock was full of blood. A witness in the car behind him called 911. An ambulance arrived within 10 minutes, and medics applied a tourniquet and called for a medical helicopter, which took him to the trauma center at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.
"I blacked out," Tom says, meaning he has no further recollection until surgery. Part of his left foot had been crushed; his left hand was also injured.
At some point, the medics realized their patient was 94 years old. All the interns and student nurses came to check out their oldest motorcycle rider.
"I'm lucky to be alive, and every morning I wake up, I thank God that I made it," Tom says. "The woman who called 911 saved my life."
He will turn 95 on Jan. 5.
When a doctor at the hospital said they would probably amputate what remained of his left foot, Tom asked him to try surgery instead and give him a chance to heal.
After seven days in the hospital, he spent two weeks at Encompass Health in Braintree and has been recovering at home for two months.
A former local country musician who played bass fiddle in a band, Tom has dozens of tapes and videos to entertain himself and, as he says, "a lot of friends" who visit him.
His latest medical checkup last week was encouraging. He lost half of his foot but the rest is healing well. He said he hopes to be allowed to walk again in three weeks and be fitted for a prosthesis.
His wife said, "Don't ever ask me to get on a motorcycle"
Tom Grono has been riding motorcycles since he started at age 16 on dirt bikes. Both of his parents rode motorcycles. It was a way of life and he had no plans to stop until this accident.
A retired crane operator, he rode his bike through his first marriage, while raising a son, Wayne, who lives in East Wolfboro, Maine; and two daughters, Dona, who died of cancer nine years ago, and Cheryl, who is in Texas.
After his wife, Constance, "my high school sweetheart," died suddenly of an aneurysm at age 53 in 1982, he remarried some five years later.
He met his second wife, Ruth, through his daughter Dona. The two women worked together and all three enjoyed country music. When Ruth started dating him, she said, "Just don't ever ask me to get on a motorcycle because I'm never going to ride on a motorcycle."
They had been married for about a month when he coaxed her to try a ride, sitting behind him. Both of their helmets were connected by intercoms so they could talk as they rode. He put country music on the stereo and by the time they had ridden down Route 58 to Route 28 and back, "she had fallen in love with it."
They purchased a motor home, took along his Honda Gold Wing bike, "the Rolls Royce of motorcycles," and spent three months every winter in Alabama, Arizona and Texas, visiting their adult children and taking motorcycle side trips.
After Ruth died in 2020, going for a motorcycle ride became a welcome outlet. The accident has brought an end to those days, but Tom has a plan.
"Now that I'm alone, I'll just take short trips with my car, go down and enjoy the waterfront," he says. "I don't get depressed, I don't get lonely, I just take one day at a time."
His biggest supporter is his son-in-law, Jim Kimball, of Abington, who was also by Dona's side throughout her illness. Jim does all of Tom's food shopping, spends holidays with him, drives him to medical appointments and brings meals from Previte's Marketplace up the street for his freezer.
"He just has such a great attitude," Jim says. "He is always upbeat" and if he has a disappointment, "he just shrugs it off."
Others have been driving Tom to the weekly Dull Men's Club meetings in Pembroke, where he enjoys telling stories. Between the club, his former work, his country music and his motorcycle riding, he has many friends who value his knowledge and cheerful nature. Tom defines his guiding life principle as one taught by his parents: "to treat people the same as I want to be treated."
A big admirer is Bob Leatherbee, 75, of Kingston, who was also a crane operator and worked with Tom in the Boston crane rental yards.
"I was struck by how he was an outstanding operator and also a good human being, a great family man," Leatherbee said. "He has had some adverse conditions in his life, as we all have, and he never let that overwhelm him.
"He would put things in as good a perspective as he could and move forward with a good result.
"I appreciate the way he has lived his life. I wish more would live their lives the same way. "
4 Patriot Ledger paperboys turn 80, still friends after 65 years
Just as my column about turning 80 was running two weeks ago, I heard from Bruce Wood, of Hull. Bruce is one of four former Patriot Ledger paperboys who are also all turning 80 and were featured here 10 years ago when we all turned 70.
Welcome back! I was so happy to hear they are all doing well.
"We've all had our health issues but we take our medicines and are very lucky," said Bruce, who still plays in the Scituate senior softball league. They've kept up their friendships for more than 65 years.
They grew up in Weymouth where each had Patriot Ledger delivery routes within blocks of one another. They were eager and proud to earn money for their cars. (Jack Murphy had a ’56 Ford Fairlane, Wood had a ’57 Ford Skyliner “with teardrop headlights” and Bob Ristuccia had a black Dodge and later a Karmann Ghia.) Along with Bob Fucile, they played in The Patriot Ledger’s summer baseball league and shared interests in sports, girls and ski trips.
Bruce recalled: "After four years as a carrier, when I turned 16, I got a job on one of the Ledger trucks as a "jumper" (the kid who rides shotgun and ties up the papers for the carriers) for $10 per week. Thanks to my experiences as a carrier and a jumper, what we learned, the sacrifices we made, it helped to make us the people we are."
Today, of course, paperboys and papergirls are vanishing. We have the U.S. mail and online editions. The people who deliver mostly weekly papers are mostly adults and are called newspaper carriers.
"Maybe I'll call you again when we all turn 90," Bruce said.
"Sure," I replied.
Then I realized that by then, maybe artificial intelligence will be writing this column.
Thank you to those of all ages who once delivered the Ledger. We truly couldn't have done it without you!
Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Hanover motorcyclist, 94, recovers from accident; ex-newsboys turn 80
