Toby with his son Dan, wife Leanne, and daughter Joy. “I’ve never met anyone in my entire life as honest as my father,” Joy said.
Toby has spent countless hours in the well-worn chair of his basement workshop. You might peek inside and see him happily “tinkering” away. But “tinkering” doesn’t really convey what he’s up to…
Toby, nicknamed “The Clock Guy,” found his passion in life almost by accident. His wife Leanne’s grandfather collected clocks, and after he passed away, Leanne’s grandmother asked for Toby’s help to repair some of her favorite clocks.
“She says, ‘Give it a whirl,’” Toby recalled. “I didn’t want to take it apart because it involved doing some things that I couldn’t reverse. I didn’t have the tools for that,” he continued. But lo and behold, he was able to get the clock to strike again. And he’s fixed hundreds of clocks since.
“He can do just about anything, but this is really his passion,” Leanne said. “He loves to take clocks that don’t work and get them running again. Most of these clocks were built in the 1860s.”
Toby began working on clocks in the 1980s, before the internet, and without any manual on how to fix them. When he can’t find a part he needs to fix a clock – he’ll make one. He has stashes of stray parts he can use to fashion what he needs. He even fixes the wood cases, restoring them to their original beauty. “I pick the clocks up mainly because they were pretty, but pretty doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t work right. So that’s when the real work comes in,” Toby said.
“It’s just really impressive. I’ve always been in awe of him,” said Dan, Toby’s son. He has been learning to work on clocks too, following in his father’s footsteps. Dan said that for all the clocks his father fixed over the years, he doesn’t think he ever charged anyone except for parts. The labor was all done free of charge, a labor of love.
“He loves making people happy. And I think that’s his way of being a person of service,” Dan said. “And it just really gives him joy to be able to take something that’s broken and fix it.”
Toby acquired so many clocks over the years, Leanne said she had to put a limit on how many he could bring upstairs, or there would be a clock on every surface in the house! But they created a clock gallery in their basement, with dozens of clocks ticking away. It would take the two of them an hour just to wind them all, she said.
But Toby wanted to share his love of clocks too. So he started talking to his neighbors about it. “He got a whole bunch of clocks, got them all running…put them in the back of his car, and drove from house to house, and had the people come out, and ‘Which one would you like?’ and he’d give them the history of it, tell them how to hang it,” Leanne said. Of course Toby would offer to fix it too, if it ever got “finicky.”
His selflessness, kindness, and honesty are cornerstones of Toby’s character. From growing up in rural Kentucky in very humble circumstances, and despite facing many health challenges over the years, he was always looking out for others. So when his wife, Leanne, faced health issues of her own, Toby dropped everything to take care of her – including stopping his own medical treatments.
“The treatment that he was taking was pretty aggressive, some pretty toxic drugs, just to try to get this under control. And he stopped… He did not leave her side,” Dan remembered. “I’ve never seen someone so selfless.” Dan told his mother, “I have no doubt, the reason why he’s still here is because of you and how much he loves you.”
Leanne, a retired nurse, is helping to care for Toby now, while he receives hospice care in their home. Toby still keeps his clock tools close by, so he can work on them when he has the energy. He loves to talk about clocks too, and he’s teaching Dan some tips along the way.
“He loves to hear what you have to say. He wants to tell you everything that he possibly can because he’s a big talker, but he’s really one of the most caring… I’ve just never met anyone like him before,” Dan said. “He’s special. He’s a one-of-a-kind.”
Angela Hospice provides compassionate care for patients in the comfort of home, where they can experience the people and surroundings that bring them comfort and joy. You can help families spend this time together, when you give to support Angela Hospice care. To donate, click here.
