Mom & Dad did not approve of the nickname “T” and wished I would start going by Tom. 

The reason I started using the nickname “T” is that When in the 4th grade we had nine boys in my class and seven of us were named Tom, so I became “T”.

Growing up and attending school two years behind my older brother Wayne, I was referred to as “Wayne’s Little Brother” in school. I didn’t want to be “Wayne’s Little Brother” or even “Wayne’s Brother” I wanted to be me, so Tom or “Wayne’s Little Brother” failed miserably in school. I didn’t want good grades because Wayne had good grades. I wanted to do some of the same things Wayne did because they interested me but I failed once again because I was doing them as “Wayne’s Little Brother”.

Most of my family call me either “T”, “Dad”, “Grandpa T”, or “Gramps” but TediAnn calls me “Tom”. My deaf friends mostly all call me Tom and when I pressed TediAnn to find out why she wouldn’t call me “T” she explained the most common sign for toilet is the same as the sign for T and she doesn’t want people thinking she is married to a toilet. So now if someone calls me Tom it is usually someone from the deaf community.

Later in life I started going by Either “Grumpy” or “Grumpy T” a name I can use as a result of Grumpy’s Restaurant.