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Biography: Thomas Graves


Thomas Graves

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[ My e-mail address is tommyomochain@gmail.com ]


I am proud to say that I was born in 1949 in a Salvation Army clinic for unwed mothers in Ocean Beach, San Diego.  My mother was only 17 years old when I was born, and her father had recently been laid off from his job at Consolidated Aircraft (look it up).  Even though we were in the same facility for ten days for "health" reasons, they let her hold me for only five minutes.  I was placed with a foster family at the end of those ten days, then adopted at 4.5 months of age and raised in La Jolla, California, by a multi-talented eye surgeon and his beautiful wife.

I attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in '67-'68 and San Diego State on and off from that point on. One night in Fort Worth, my buddies and I went to the notorious "Cellar" nightclub where the sign inside said "Evil spelled backwards is Live" (or was it the other way around?) and where JFK's Secret Service agents were drinking into the "wee hours" the night before the assassination. In the summer of '73, I hitchhiked from La Jolla to Homer, Alaska, and worked in the crab processing industry at a self-contained company on a fiord-like bay twenty miles from "civilization" on Kodiak Island until the first day of spring '74... Moved back to La Jolla for a few years and then moved to Cowboy and Indian country in Arizona in 1980 to get away from my creditors. Found my biological parents in 1987 and learned that my father (Robert Gordon Mahon -- it's an Irish name) was one of the best all-around athletes to ever live in San Diego. In '91-'92 I was back in La Jolla and attending a San Diego law school (Western State University College of Law) that didn't require a bachelor's degree; I got the second highest grade in my Torts class but didn't even take the final exam in contracts "because I had a lousy professor" and, guess what, the film "JFK" had come out and I spent way too much time "researching" the assassination and far too little time reading my contracts books. Thinking I'd flunked out (I later found out that I hadn't), and on the advice of a Czech friend in La Jolla, I started making plans to move to the Czech Republic and teaching English there. I originally planned to stay there for a year, but ended up staying for seven. Even had a bar I called "Surf Klub" in Brno. Now I'm back in the San Diego area. In addition to working and "researching" the JFK assassination, I spend my time surfing at Windansea (google it), playing online chess, and working on a novella ("The Adventures of Tommy O'Pepper") based on my experiences in the Latin Quarter of Paris while on my way to the Czech Republic.

Regarding the assassination, the books I've read are "Crossfire" by Jim Marrs, "Best Evidence" by David Lifton, "Oswald and the CIA" by John Newman, and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Dick Russell. I'm convinced that I can learn a lot from this Forum if I keep an open mind. Perhaps I can even contribute from time to time in some small way.

IMHO, State Secret by Bill Simpich is a "must read," as are "Legend" by Edward J. Epstein, and, for a little background on those "really really nice Ruskies," Tennent H. Bagley's 2007 book Spy Wars, and his 2015 PDF Ghosts of the Spy Wars.

https://archive.org/details/SpyWarsMolesMysteriesAndDeadlyGames

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08850607.2014.962362

 

Edited by Thomas Graves
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Hi Thomas,

Very interesting bio. The case made you not take your damn contracts exam??? I can relate, tho I did take mine. I used to "reward" myself after exams by reading the latest books on who killed JFK. Been an atty now almost 20 years.

I also have many comments on your Mac Wallace post, but I will hold off making them as I am way too close to this area to be truly objective. The person responsible for obtaining the print (J Harrison who died this past May) was a close friend of mine for 7 years, as is Nathan Darby, as is Barr McClellan.

I too had many time of doubt about Wallace and his possible involvement. I will just say this: Nathan is positive of this match. And he is a wonderfully sincere, humble man. I would stake my life on his intregity. (He is also, sadly, very near death from a stroke).

Welcome to this forum. SOme great folks here, but watch out for Tim Gratz :)) He's the resident "spook" in my opinion. Constantly pushes the "JFK- was- trying to- kil-l Castro- and- Castro- killed him" disinformation story. Gets very old.

Hope you post more. And yes you did it perfectly correct.

Cheers,

Dawn (Meredith)

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Raised in La Jolla, California. Attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in '67-'68 and San Diego State on and off from that point on. One night in Fort Worth, my buddies and I went to the notorious "Cellar" nightclub where the sign inside said "Evil spelled backwards is Live" (or was it the other way around?) and where JFK's Secret Service agents were drinking into the "wee hours" the night before the assassination. In the summer of '73, I hitchhiked to Alaska and worked in the crab industry on Kodiak Island until the first day of spring '74... Moved back to La Jolla for a few years and then moved to Cowboy and Indian country in Arizona in 1980 to get away from my creditors. In '91-'92 I was back in La Jolla, attending a San Diego law school that didn't require a bachelor’s degree; I got the second highest grade in my Torts class but didn't even take the effing final exam in contracts because I had a lousy professor and, guess what, the film "JFK" had come out and I spent way too much time "researching" the assassination and far too little time reading my contracts books! Thinking I'd flunked out and on the advice of a Czech friend in La Jolla, I started making plans to move to the Czech Republic and teaching English there... I originally planned to stay there for a year, but ended up staying there for seven. Even had a bar called "Surf Klub" in Brno. Now I'm back in the San Diego area. In addition to working and "researching" the JFK assassination, I spend my time surfing at Windansea, playing online chess, and working on a novel based on my experiences in the Latin Quarter of Paris while on my way to the Czech Republic... I've decided to call it Tommy O'Pepper Steps Out-- The Amazing Adventures and Misadventures of a Surfer Dude in Paris, etc

Regarding the assassination, the books I've read are "Crossfire" by Jim Marrs, "Coup d'etat in America" by Canfield and Weberman, "Best Evidence" by David Lifton, and "Oswald and the CIA" by John Newman. I'm convinced that I can learn a lot from this Forum if I keep an open mind. Perhaps I can even contribute from time to time in some small way...

_______________________

Hi Thomas,

Very interesting bio. The case made you not take your damn contracts exam??? I can relate, tho I did take mine. I used to "reward" myself after exams by reading the latest books on who killed JFK. Been an atty now almost 20 years.

I also have many comments on your Mac Wallace post, but I will hold off making them as I am way too close to this area to be truly objective. The person responsible for obtaining the print (J Harrison who died this past May) was a close friend of mine for 7 years, as is Nathan Darby, as is Barr McClellan.

I too had many time of doubt about Wallace and his possible involvement. I will just say this: Nathan is positive of this match. And he is a wonderfully sincere, humble man. I would stake my life on his intregity. (He is also, sadly, very near death from a stroke).

Welcome to this forum. SOme great folks here, but watch out for Tim Gratz B)) He's the resident "spook" in my opinion. Constantly pushes the "JFK- was- trying to- kil-l Castro- and- Castro- killed him" disinformation story. Gets very old.

Hope you post more. And yes you did it perfectly correct.

Cheers,

Dawn (Meredith)

Hi Dawn,

Thank you for the welcome to the Forum. It's great to be able to pose questions to and share information with so many people (such as yourself) who have been researching this tragic event for so many years...

I know next-to-nothing about the "lifting" of latent fingerprints, etc. Specifically, I don't know if it is possible to distinguish between a "planted" fingerprint and the real thing. In the thread, I was speculating that Wallace's print might have been "planted" on the box in the "sniper's nest" by the use of some kind of adhesive tape, etc. I wasn't trying to impune the integrity and/or expertise of your friend, Nathan Darby. Whether or not Wallace's print was real or was planted, a 14-point match sounds pretty darn conclusive to me...

Sincerely,

Thomas

Edited by Thomas Graves
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
  • 5 months later...
David G. Healy said:
Thomas Graves said:
That's all, folks........

cool.gif



The book concerning the Paris Latin Quarter, was it completed-published?

 


___________________________


I'm still working on it off and on. I'm writing about staying at Shakespeare and Company in Paris while on my way to the Czech Republic in 1993. The novel incorporates old tunnels, ancient churches, the question Jimmy Durante once asked me on the train in Del Mar, and (last but not least) the toothache I have right now. I'm gonna call it "The Adventures of Tommy O'Pepper."

 

Or something like that.


--Thomas

Edited by Thomas Graves
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  • 4 years later...
That's all, folks........

B)

The book concerning the Paris Latin Quarter, was it completed-published?

___________________________

I'm still working on it off and on. I'm writing about staying at Shakespeare and Company in Paris while on my way to the Czech Republic in 1993. The novel incorporates old tunnels, ancient churches, the question Jimmy Durante once asked me on the train in Del Mar, and (last but not least) the toothache I have right now. I'm gonna call it Tommy O'Pepper Steps Out-- The Amazing Adventures and Misadventures of a Surfer Dude in Paris, etc

--Thomas

Are you still working on this project, Tommy? If so, how close are you to its completion?

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That's all, folks........

B)

The book concerning the Paris Latin Quarter, was it completed-published?

___________________________

I'm still working on it off and on. I'm writing about staying at Shakespeare and Company in Paris while on my way to the Czech Republic in 1993. The novel incorporates old tunnels, ancient churches, the question Jimmy Durante once asked me on the train in Del Mar, and (last but not least) the toothache I have right now. I'm gonna call it Tommy O'Pepper Steps Out-- The Amazing Adventures and Misadventures of a Surfer Dude in Paris, etc

--Thomas

I was once drinking buddies with Christopher Cooke Gilmore, a Jersey Shore neighbor and friend who spent a few weeks every year in residence at Shakespier & Co., and is a character in books written about the place.

Gilmore wrote a few books himself, and got published through his agent Peter Miller, who is also Bugliosi's agent.

BK

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see below...

smile.gif

If you do not put back your biography I will delete your membership.

John,

I don't know how to move it from the #3 post to the #1 post, but I'll give it a shot.

Maybe I can copy and paste it?

Stupid old people like me have a hard time learning (and remembering what we've "learned") on these new-fangled things called "computers".

Sincerely,

--Tommy smile.gif

Edited by Thomas Graves
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  • 3 years later...

That's all, folks........

cool.gif



The book concerning the Paris Latin Quarter, was it completed-published?

___________________________


I'm still working on it off and on. I'm writing about staying at Shakespeare and Company in Paris while on my way to the Czech Republic in 1993. The novel incorporates old tunnels, ancient churches, the question Jimmy Durante once asked me on the train in Del Mar, and (last but not least) the toothache I have right now. I'm gonna call it Tommy O'Pepper Steps Out-- The Amazing Adventures and Misadventures of a Surfer Dude in Paris, etc


--Thomas

Are you still working on this project, Tommy? If so, how close are you to its completion?

Greg,

It's an on again off again project, but it's viewable on Google Blogger.

To find it, just google "tommy o'pepper" in quotation marks and go to the bottom of the "hit list".

Thanks for the interest,

--Tommy :sun

Edited by Evan Burton
Edit to insert the correct quote Thomas was replying to.
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