First let me impart to the reader that there is no intention of making fun of the Tally brothers.

Back when I was a small boy, I used to shine shoes in the downtown area. Around my second year of shining shoes I branched out to the West End area. My first contact with one of the brothers was with Anthony, commonly known as Tony. Tony had, back then, the personality of a happy go lucky guy, just as he is now. I had the privilege of shining his shoes while he was greasing a car. We always had a running joke of myself being in the Sunday Papers. Truly, back then the Sunday papers had great characters. Hence the Taliadoros family was given nicknames by me. However, first I had to be given one. During that time I was given the name of Sunshine. The truth be said, my mother thought I was so bright she called me Sunny - hence my new given name. It was then that I gave Tony the name of Dimmy Dimwit, by reason of who in their right mind would ask a kid for a shoeshine under a grease rack.

Now we journey across Tally's corner to Tally's Lincoln & Mercury. In returning back to the Sunday papers, we had Mutt & Jeff. In observing brothers Nick and Mike I decided to give the two brothers the nicknames Mutt {Mike} and Jeff {Nick}. Brother Bill became Willy Lump Lump. These were characters right out of the book of wisdom.

Then in my later years came John, a rather small man but a gentle giant. He alone nurtured many teenagers in the past. John was a devoted father, brother, husband and finally, a mentor in the building of my own future. I had the delight of doing the Causeway's cleaning. I also was given the pleasure of being in the company of many well-known Gloucester people.

The Causeway was a community gathering point for every politician, businessman, and everyone from the rich to the regular working folk. So you might ask what name could I come up with for John. Well, what many people did not know was that John could imitate Jackie Gleason perfectly. The most notable was the character Poor Soul - hence I gave him this name.

Well the sands of time have ended for Mike, Nick, and John. Just as we no longer hear of Mutt & Poor Soul. But I must tell you they still live on. On in the work that the nephews Brian, Brent and Bruce have continued in our city. Tony continues his great contribution by his love and dedication for all he meets and greets. Brian is a pillar in the education community, Brent a partner in the growth of the business world, and finally, Bruce. Who would ever have thought that a Republican and a Democrat could be like father and son. Bruce is a true representative to the working man, but he and his brothers are also the working spirit of their uncles and yes, their father, "Murph the Smurf". So you see, even the other side of the family can be Sunday comic characters. Our city has benefited from the Taliadoros family. We can thank them for their patriotism, and we can thank them for our revived Christmas Spirit each year. One's heritage lives on by the actions and deeds they perform to make our tomorrows better.