#Authorinterview with Thomas Pelissero
Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Diane Lunsford is talking with Thomas Pelissero, author of Bring One Home: A Memoir of Boyhood, Basketball, and Hometown Spirit.
FQ: It is always a treat to chat with an author. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your memoir. Before getting into the actual memoir, let’s talk about you. I was drawn to the note in your bio about your ‘…sense of humor and regaling friends and family with colorful stories…’ My dad was a wonderful storyteller, and he loved to make people laugh. Of the many stories you undoubtedly have, is there a favorite you like to share often to get a laugh? If so, I would love to hear it.
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| Author Thomas Pelissero |
FQ: I often hear of people ‘returning home’ once they retire. What was your deciding factor to bring you back ‘home’?
PELISSERO: Though I lived in the the Twin Cities of Mpls/St. Paul for 45 years I always referred to Bessemer Michigan as home. I missed the slower pace, the wide-open spaces and the four seasons. We would get 40-70 inches of snow in the Twin Cities each year but in the U.P. of Michigan we knew we would see 150-250 inches. My wife Joy and I both love to ski, snowshoe and hunt in the winter. You need lots of snow to truly enjoy winter sports safely. Also, my family, such as my mother, aunts and uncles and brothers, still reside in Bessemer, so naturally I wanted to get back home to spend as much time as possible with them. My mother died in 2020 but the 3 years we had upon my retirement was very meaningful. Just the familiarity of my hometown makes me happy.
FQ: Last question about you; I would like to know more about your ‘…preserving local history through the Erwin Township Historical Society…’ What is your contribution to this effort?
PELISSERO: In 2019, I retired for two years. No committees, no presentations, no important meetings. The local historian in Erwin called to tell me all their historical artifacts were being removed from the Erwin Town Hall to make room for other events. He was devastated as there was no other building to display the communities’ historical items. I said I would lead an effort to find a building. However, the historian had never formed a “Historical Society”, he was just collecting and displaying. So, I went to work on establishing a formal organization, forming a 501 (c ) 3 non-profit organization and was elected its first President. We did fundraisers, membership drives and convinced businesses to donate their services. In 2021, we bought a house that was a former one room schoolhouse from 1915 and moved it 3 miles to a 9-acre parcel that the society purchased and restored it from a house to a schoolhouse again. That became our artifact museum in 2023. We then built the only park in Erwin Township around this museum with a children’s playground, walking trails, pickleball court, historical markers and displays and more. In September 2025, the Erwin Township Historical Society was named “The Best Local Historical Society in the State of Michigan”. Not only did we preserve the past, but our park also helped drive growth as there was 5% increase in new houses being built in our community as young families loved that we now had a large park for family fun. Our Mission is Preserving the Past and Creating the Future in Erwin Township.
FQ: There is a mention in Chapter 40 of Milo Barnaby’s broken nose from a car accident on January 12 that turned out to be worse than initially expected. I remember as a small child when doctors still made house calls. Why do you suppose that faded into the dust of time has gone by?
PELISSERO: Doc Davidson still made house calls. Oddly his office was on the second floor of a building downtown. How did the elderly and injured people make that climb? That may have been the reason he often went to residents’ homes. Once Doc built a brand-new clinic with a single floor people were able to easily enter his building. If it was nighttime Doc still made a house call if he believed it was necessary. People in our community would never call an ambulance, so many times the doctor determined through the house call whether it was necessary. Why did it fade? It had to be around efficiency and slow change in health care coverage.
FQ: I was intrigued how tuned in the coaches were in terms of exposing the youth to sports. What is your opinion of that concept today?
PELISSERO: Coaches in that era were in complete control. If you didn’t follow the rules or take directions you were removed from the team. The practices were intense and physical. They pushed you to your limit. Every boy I knew wanted to play sports and was willing to put up with the antics of demanding coaches. For the most part, they got the best out of their players. Enter though, one John Bonk, a 22-year-old new coach for Bessemer who had never had to discipline a boy in practice or teach the game because he had played his whole life. His laid-back style didn’t drive the players to be their best or force them to learn the game. Bonk was a natural athlete so he just reckoned all boys were like him and had the gift. He was shocked to see how his players were struggling with the basic fundamentals.
As a young boy in the 1960’s we had to try out for every sport. I was reading in an old newspaper that my 8th grade basketball team, of which I was the captain, had 35 boys try-out for the team. Only 24 (12 varsity and 12 junior varsity) made the team. No coaches were worried about a boy’s feeling if they didn’t make the team. They want to get the 12 best players on each team. As captain, the head coach asked me to select the final 3 players on the varsity team. I’m 13 and I can only choose 3 of the remaining players to join the team. It was really difficult, but again a great lesson in selecting teammates that had put in the work to make the team.
Today, everyone is on a team. There are no cuts. We have participation trophies for everyone. Coaches and programs today are worried about kids self-esteem. I get it. But when those same children become adults and they apply for a job, rejection is hard to handle.
FQ: In line with my previous question, I am a writer and while I still do a fair amount of pen to paper to get my creativity flowing, I still have strong reservations toward using AI. What is your assessment of AI? Do you think there will come a time when humanity relies solely on keywords and takes what the BOT has to deliver as the gospel to replace the ‘spoken word’?
PELISSERO: Wouldn’t that be sad. I was inspired to write Bring One Home due to the reaction my children and later my grandchildren had to my stories. The spoken word. The oral history of growing up in small town. AI did not live what I experienced in my 70 years. It never will. The hardest part of being a storyteller is writing it down; pen to paper so to speak. Will there come a time? I believe it will be after my generation is gone. Young people don’t want to even get a driver’s license anymore and shop for the coolest or faster car. They see automobiles as autonomous. They just want to go from point A to B. When I was young, driving your own car meant freedom. If young people don’t care for the experience of driving his or her own car then they will likely not care if AI writes or even speaks their words. Quite sad. Let’s hope we can reverse the trend. The young folks now think vinyl records are cool, so I guess there is hope.
FQ: I found myself lamenting for the ‘good ole days’ when you shared your memory of the Galaxies at the White Birch Inn. Do you suppose the age of innocence is lost forever (or have we simply gotten on in years and it still thrives; we just don’t see it anymore)?
PELISSERO: We need to get back to watching the sunrise rather than photographing it. Soak in the vitamin D. Appreciate that it’s a new day full of possibilities. Your phone is great for directions, but hiking the mountain or fishing the river or swimming in the lake or skiing down the slope is good for the body. I think the age of innocence is still there at age 7 or 70. There is so much to see and you will never see it all. When I retired, I didn’t know how many waterfalls were within an hour of my home and I never seen or heard. It was awakening. Social media and overindulgence in smart phone use will rob one’s youth…thus we climbed bluffs as young boys in the winter because no one said we couldn’t climb it. It was our childhood curiosity that drove us to those places.
FQ: There was an exchange between you and your father from November 3, 1964, election night. You asked him if he voted for Johnson or Goldwater and the exchange: “…Dad, why do you think people don’t like Goldwater? I asked. Well, one, he’s a Republican, he stated. Kennedy was a Democrat and there are a lot of people that voted for Johnson because he was Vice President under Kennedy. And two, Goldwater is a nut. I knew I shouldn’t ask the next question for fear it would trigger a lecture on presidential politics…Why is he a nut? I asked… because he would get the whole world blown up in a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, Dad replied…” Interesting exchange at best. How would you apply this exchange in today’s political climate?
PELISSERO: Children are influenced at an early age by their parents’ political and religious views. My father said that Barry Goldwater was a nut and I believed him. I would tell others the same thing. You are learning right from wrong and sometimes it comes in these general conversations at a young age and you believe it to be true. Thankfully I have grown and form opinions on my own and don’t try to convince my children that my opinion is the only one that matters. We have open discussions that are respectful.
FQ: In line with my previous question, I was extremely young when JFK was assassinated, but I recall the intense shock, horror, and sadness from my parents and my relatives. It’s hard to believe it has been more than 60 years since that tragedy yet, do you ever wonder if we will ever know what really happened? What do you suppose life would be like had he not been killed?
PELISSERO: It is easy to play the what if game. I often felt that if JFK had not been assassinated that we would not have gotten so deeply involved in the Viet Nam war, if at all. Maybe saved thousands of lives. Yet, what if JFK had not stopped the Soviets from firing nuclear missiles at the United States? It’s the reverse scenario. Millions would have died. I try hard to remember back in the 1960’s if we were so divided as a country as we are today. I try my best to stay out of politics and determine on my own how I can help a community. What action can I take right now to make a difference. It helps we to stay focused and follow through on my promises. I can’t say the same for politicians on the right or left.
FQ: I want to thank you for the joy that resonated with reading your memoir. It is a story full of heart and reminiscent of a time of innocence. Are you working on your next book and if so, could you share? If not now, when?
PELISSERO: I have written a book about Bessemer and 50 years ago I wrote a song about the town. Now, I would like to combine those two genres and write a musical. Something original and joyful. Just what our community needs. It will occupy my time for 5 years, that is, when I’m not searching for the age of innocence.
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