Bill Higgins column: Holy cow! Tommy’s Place a bright sight amid dark days

It is the season of Thanksgiving and holiday cheer is needed now more than ever. It’s a time to appreciate and be grateful for the gifts of family, friends and — hopefully — good health.

The ominous drumbeat of pandemic news has left us worn and weary. Winter is coming, the insidious coronavirus infection continues to spread, and so we mask up, hunker down, seeking shelter from the storm.

Amid all this COVID-19 chaos stands Tim O’Connell, channeling the spirit of Tommy Leonard. O’Connell and a burgeoning collection of friends — some old, some new, some anonymous — are working diligently to create a bountiful harvest of goodness in celebration of a special man.

Let us give thanks to them. They are bright beacons of benevolence, their generosity a soothing salve in this year of madness.

O’Connell, 55, is a summer resident of Falmouth. Two years ago he bought the Elm Arch Inn off Main Street with plans to raise funds to rehabilitate and restore the historic Georgian home into a vacation retreat for families with kids coping with cancer.

O’Connell is calling it “Tommy’s Place,” in honor of Tommy Leonard, a favorite son of Falmouth and founder of the Falmouth Road Race. He passed away in January 2019, but will forever remain the emotional heartbeat of the world-class event. There is a plaque in Woods Hole designating the Tommy Leonard Start Line and a Tommy Leonard finish line garden in the Heights.

The Falmouth Walk was also started by Leonard with his bartender buddy Eddie Doyle in 1991 to support local charities. Last summer a monument was unveiled in Leonard’s honor at Town Hall Square and an adjacent crosswalk was named Tommy Leonard Walkway.

And now Tommy’s Place. The home will honor the memory of Grifyn Sawyer of Lynn, an 8-year-old who passed away from cancer in 2007 shortly after a family vacation on Martha’s Vineyard at a rental house donated by O’Connell. Hearing stories of the joy that experience brought was the spark that hatched the plan for Tommy’s Place.

One family at a time, along with their friends, will have the home for a week … free of charge.

“This will be a respite for children and families to escape what often becomes their new norm of life of hospital and doctor visits,” said O’Connell, a real estate developer from Quincy. “It will be a special place to connect, create memories and most importantly have some fun.”

The goal is to open Tommy’s Place by next summer. The home will include 11 bedrooms, a game room, library, rooms for arts and crafts, music, a home theater, a tavern and outdoor grounds with a swimming pool and public garden. There are also plans to renovate a cottage on the property should the family in residence need assistance from guests or visiting caregivers.

Like so many before him, O’Connell was inexplicably swept up by Leonard’s genuine gift of giving and never asking for anything in return. Time spent with Tommy always left you feeling better, and so it was for O’Connell when they first met about eight years ago. He quickly learned they shared a bond borne out of helping others.

“It’s hard to describe Tommy for those who didn’t know him. He was, well, I guess, he was …”

O’Connell was stumped. But for those who counted Leonard a friend — and there are probably thousands (really!) — no explanation is necessary. For those who didn’t have the good fortune, none will suffice.

And so O’Connell’s project is well underway. The overwhelming generosity of so many, both financially and through donations of materials and labor, is helping transform the Elm Arch Inn into a haven for kids and families who need a hand.

Tommy Leonard always had a unique way of getting people around him to rally to a cause. He subscribed to the quotation from the Irish poet William Butler Yeats: “There are no strangers, only friends you have not yet met.” To be in Tommy’s company, even if only occasionally, meant you were his friend forever.

“After I bought the inn two years ago, I told Tommy what I was planning and what I wanted to name it,” said O’Connell. “I think he was a little confused, but I explained it was about helping kids. Then he understood.”

At this time of uncertainty, uneasiness and fear, the kindness of people has been heartwarming. In just the last three months O’Connell said he has received more than $500,000 worth of donated construction labor and materials, and more than $150,000 in cash pledges.

“While we still have a long way to go, to say we are beyond grateful and appreciative is the understatement of the century, especially when we were told this wasn't going to be possible with all that is going on in our country,” said O’Connell.

The in-home pub will, of course, be named Tommy’s Tavern. Leonard spent a lot of his life working as a bartender in Boston and Falmouth. He helped make the Eliot Lounge, near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, famous. The inspiration for the Falmouth Road Race came from watching Frank Shorter win the Olympic marathon gold medal while Tommy was at his post at the Brothers 4 in the Heights in the summer of 1972.

Leonard also worked (and frequented) the Quarterdeck on Main Street in Falmouth and the QD became headquarters of the Falmouth Walk, now an important part of road race weekend every August.

Tommy’s Tavern will salute his rich life with much memorabilia, including photos and a portion of the brass rail from the “Cheers” bar in Boston. The stool on the far end of the tavern will be reserved for Leonard, never occupied, and always with a Sam Adams draft poured as an invitation for the adults staying at Tommy’s Place to join in and relax.

O’Connell already has a $25,000 donation for naming rights to the room and there are other opportunities for Tommy’s many friends to be involved in the tavern.

In this season of Thanksgiving and facing unprecedented challenges of the coronavirus, the ambitious undertaking by O’Connell and his all-volunteer organization is to be applauded.

Or as Tommy Leonard would say, “Holy cow!”

If you’re interested in supporting Tommy’s Place or learning more, information is online at tommysplace.org

Retired Cape Cod Times sports editor Bill Higgins can be contacted at bhiggins54@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillHigginsCCT

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Bill Higgins column: Holy cow! Tommy’s Place a bright sight amid dark days