Doubting Thomas Honan

Thomas Honan was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1900. He was the son of my Cuban family's patriarch, the 'OG Irishman' Thomas Patrick Honan (my maternal, great grandfather ... the one who'd emigrated from Ireland in the mid-1800's, became a cop in Chicago, and ended up in Cuba after fighting alongside Teddy Roosevelt as a member of the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War). In some ways, Thomas Jr. never escaped his father's long, grand shadow. Sadly, and in regards to my scant, second-hand memories, this has remained true for me for most of my life. While Rita doesn't set me straight, per se, she does shed more light on her father in this episode. He was the the only grandparent of mine that I've never met, so it's about time I learned a bit more about him.