Well, I met Tom — I think I met him more in New York at Gerde’s Folk City, that kind of thing, which was a place we initially all went to. I remember Tom as a man who was preternaturally almost — he had the aura of someone who stood in the back of a room and was looking at everything, taking in everything. He was very much a man who was attentive to everything that was going on. And he exuded a kind of almost genius that way, as if he had this enormous talent as an observer. (David Shetzline)

The Thomas Trail: every contact leaves traces

(1961-1962) Tom’s friends Bob and Ginny Hillock

13539 23rd Avenue N.E., Seattle 55, Washington

1 December 1962 Tom writes letter to Bob from Mexico City: “To get certain miscellaneous crap out of the way: if it’s not bugging you by its presence, that box of books might just as well stay where it is for awhile. Unless for some reason it’s an imposition. I don’t know how long I’ll be staying here, see, is what it is, and I don’t know, workwise, when exactly I’ll be needing the books in the box. Also, it is getting toward the end of the year, which means the Kite Factory [Boeing] ought to be sending out W-2 forms any time now. That is if you are still at the kite factory. If you are, you could do me a favor. They don’t have an address for me. Could you, maybe, buddy, tell them to send it to you, the W-2 forms, and you could send it on to me?…”