|
|
In Memoriam Tom LaPan was the first person to let me put his profile on coinshow.com. He was very patient and put up with my slo-o-o-w schedule (I first approached him in October 1998 and the profile didn't go up on the Web until February 1999). It came as a great surprise when I learned in February 2000 that he had died of lung cancer. I had seen him in the store only a week or two earlier and he looked fine and was in his usual good spirits. There is now another card and game shop where he used to be, but in appreciation for his help I would like to keep this profile up indefinitely. The only change has been to remove the phone number. At the bottom of the profile, I have copied a portion of his obituary. Trader Tom Monday thru Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Owner: Tom LaPan Trader Tom is located in the center of Greenfield on Federal Street (Routes 5 and 10), just north of Famous Bill's Restaurant. Bank Row and Route 2A (Main Street) are a block to the south. When you go into Trader Tom's on Saturdays, the first thing you notice is that this is not like other coin shops. The place is jammed with kids. They're not there for the coins though. "It's an older group of people that collect the coins. Kids are more into cards and toys." Tom opened his store in 1991. Before then, coins and comic books had just been a hobby. "I'd been retired for about two years and I was looking for something to do, and all I could do was my hobbies. I was walking by the place one day and the barber who used to be here was moving out, and it just hit me. The rent was good so I decided to open a store." Tom's been collecting coins so long he has a hard time remembering how he started. "I started collecting as a kid - pennies. Around seventh or eighth grade the school had a club period. I think I took an art club and the teacher happened to be a coin and stamp collector. I had a special place in the house where I had the comic books I saved, the coins, the stamps. Gosh, I can't really remember, it's been so long. "The store was going to be coins and stamps when I first opened. It didn't take long to forget about stamps - I didn't sell any. I gradually added whatever customers wanted. They'd ask, 'Do you have this?'; and I'd say, 'No, but I'll get it in two days' and I still do that." So it happens that Tom's walls are crowded with trading cards, Magic, Star Wars and Star Trek figurines, and all kinds of cool stuff. Every Saturday, Tom hosts a Magic tournament and gives the kids tables to play on in the back. The shop appears under the "Retail Locator" section of Wizards of the Coast; enter the zip code. Each of Tom's players has a page at the site also. Tom still has a good coin business, too, though maybe Saturday isn't the best day to do coins. Theres a little bit of everything in coins and bullion, with an emphasis on U.S. coins. "Most collectors are like I was - not organized collectors, but more accumulators. They see it, they like it." * * * * * * * * * * Obituary reprinted with permission of the Greenfield Recorder. GREENFIELD - Thomas A. LaPan, 70, of 326F Davis St., died Tuesday (2-8-00) in Franklin Medical Center. He was the husband of Aurelia R. (Willor) LaPan. He was born in Sunderland, June 17, 1929, the son of Thomas and Florence (Lenois) LaPan. He moved to Greenfield at a young age and graduated from Greenfield High School in 1947. He served in the Air Force from 1949 until being honorably discharged in 1951, when he returned to Greenfield. With the exception of a short stay in Burlington, Vt., [he] lived in Greenfield for the remainder of his life. He operated Trader Tom on Federal Street from 1991 until the present. During that time, he put on Magic, The Gathering card tournaments at the store for children. Lapan also worked as a Right of Way Agent for a surveying company for 25 years, retiring in 1989. He was a member of the First Congregational Church of Greenfield and enjoyed collecting stamps and coins, computers and motorcycles and playing poker. Return to coinshow.com |
