A trigger that takes me back - Mt. Tom Power Plant

*I read recently on one of the blogs that I follow, when something triggers a memory, write it down as part of your story.

Today, on our way to Vermont, we drove by the Mt. Tom Power Plant on the Connecticut River in Holyoke.

I used to know how high that tower was.  How did you know that, you may ask?

When I was young, one of our neighbors, Wallace Handfield, worked there.  He lived at the end of my street.

Actually, it was on Primrose Street but it intersected my street, Oleander Street in West Springfield.  I knew him as "Handfield."  Every evening, or so it seemed to me, he would sit on his front steps after dinner.  Whenever I saw him out there I would go down and sit with him.  His wife never came out. Occasionally I would see her at the door but I don't remember ever talking to her.
He was probably in his 50's, maybe younger, but he seemed old to me at the time.

I can't remember what we used to talk about, but I do remember that he told me how high the tower of the power plant was.  He used to ask me how high it was and I was very proud that I could remember and tell him.

Then, one day, he was not out there.  I'm not sure how long it was, but we learned that he had passed away from some type of cancer.  I remember how upset I was.

Now, every time we go by the power plant I think of Handfield and how much I loved sitting and talking with him on his front steps.