PEORIA — Jim Thome's beloved late mother, Joyce, was not forgotten on his big day as his friends and family gathered in Peoria to watch the announcement he'd been voted into the Professional Baseball Hall of Fame.
Joyce Thome died in 2005. But on Wednesday, hours before the Hall of Fame announcement, Thome's sister, Jenny Ellis, went to their mother's grave site and decorated it so she could share in the day.
There was a floral display in the shape of Thome's No. 25. A banner that read "That's my son." American flags draped at the site. On the back side of the headstone, a giant picture of Thome at bat in front of a packed Jacobs Field while with the Cleveland Indians.
"Our mother talked about this day so long ago," Jenny Thome Ellis said. "One year, my dad wanted to go to Cooperstown; he'd never been there. My mom said, 'I'm not going to go this time. I'll wait for when Jim goes there. Because he's going to go there.'
"She knew. Well, she's going to have the best seat there is now at Cooperstown when Jim gets inducted."
Surrounded by family in a celebration at Gebby's restaurant in Peoria, Thome's 82-year-old father, Chuck, remembered his late wife, too.
"She was always sure, she just believed Jim would make it to Cooperstown," Thome said. "I know right now she is loving this."
Dave Eminian covers the Rivermen and Chiefs for the Journal Star. Reach him at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Check out his videos on Youtube.com/pjstarcom and news items on Twitter @icetimecleve.