THOMAS RICHARD HAYNES was born 7-27-59 at Cook County Hospital (here's an animation of me as a baby), and lived his first 5 years in Winnetka Illinois, near Evanston (Chicago). His best friend there was David Dudenhafer, who got hit by a car the day Thom moved (don't worry, he was OK).
Thom's family then moved to Moreland Hills Ohio (Cleveland), where he lived till he was 18 (picture). The house was on about 15 acres, and named 'Red Pine Ridge'. A long driveway off Chagrin Blvd. (422) led to a yellow two-story. There was a LOT of grass that Dad tried valiantly to mow all summer... and LOTS of snow in the winter. Half the land was woods, in which we sledded like crazy, and played in creeks, hiked, looked for salamanders under rocks. There was a mysterious 'green cabin' that for a 10 year old -- who knew what went on there? Beheadings?
Our favorite neighbors were the Pattersons (Craig was Thom's best friend most of the time) and the Kehres (Bob and Grace were my parents' good friends -- Dad played pool weekly there with the cronies).
We had a fabulous collie named LAIRD McDUFF (of Red Pine Ridge). Duffy was our Lassie, and we adored him. So gentle, fetched balls, accompanied us in our treks through the woods...
We were blessed with a great school system -- Orange High School, etc.
To this day I remain a devout Cleveland Indians fan. And I still play softball, dreaming of being Duane 'Keeper of the' Kuiper at 2nd base. And we are Browns fans, anxiously awaiting 1999...
At 18 I flew to Ft Worth Texas to study Biology/Pre-Med at
Texas Christian University (TCU, emphasis on the 'C'). He
met great life-long friends there like Steve
(S.A.M., here having another brilliant idea) and Bob ("Dr.
Piana, the Jack Ruby of Rhythm & Blues"). Later
came Dennis
("St. Denis"), and a swell guy tragically no longer
with us, Bill
Otero.
Steve's responsible for getting Thom involved in theater (resume).
Thom met future wife Andrea in 1982, here's an early date
picture,
and here's a picture
after we breathed too much Happy Gas. Here's a
picture
of me as a bleached-hair beach boy. Here's one of us
being. publically
humiliated. We couldn't afford much of a
car right after we were hitched.
Thom joined IBM in 1989, after earning an MS in Computer Science from Univ. of North Carolina. Here's Thom at an IBM Halloween party, and as "Mr. Bill" Gates meeting the head of Aptiva development in 1998.
Thom likes to run/jog, here's a picture of me about to push Ethan in the baby jogger.
Here's our house in Shepherd's Vineyard, Apex, the tree on right was wind-damaged by Fran and had to be cut down.
Thom skiing with pals Jerry and Chris.
