97 yr. young Toni Rowe with her latest creation. Toni ventures into 
Manhattan from Brooklyn once a week for an art class held at her late-husband’s union on 14th Street.
Photo by Tom Martinez

Note from Tom: "Toni is a truly amazing woman.  She remembers a time in NYC prior to 
electricity when the gas lights were lit in Washington
Square Park. 

As a young girl she lived above a blacksmith’s shop in the village that kept busy making wagon wheels.  About fall she chides her son, Dave (who’s included in this email) saying, ""People go upstate to see the changing leaves.  But
we’ve got beautiful leaves right here in Brooklyn!""