TOM KROMER (1906-1969), the son of an immigrant coal miner and a glass-factory worker, was born in Huntington, West Virginia. Forced by lack of funds to cut his college career short, Kromer headed west in a fruitless search for work in 1929. He spent the subsequent five years roaming America by rail, living the tenuous life of a bum. The ordeal ruined Kromer's health. He struggled with tuberculosis for the rest of his life, growing steadily more reclusive until his death.