Dream Foundation grants dying Hampden Township man’s wish to go out to the ballgame
Jon Gracey always has been a Pittsburgh Pirates fan.
His images of his grandfather are of the old man smoking a pipe, dropping matches that left marks on the linoleum floor while drinking Iron City beer and listening to the Pirates on the radio.
Jon Gracey of Hampden Twp. relaxes with his dog, Reily. The Dream Foundation dropped off gifts to fulfill Gracey’s wish of attending a Pirates game with his son and twin daughters. Gracey has an incurable form of cancer.
Gracey saw the team in person maybe 10 to 15 times while growing up in Shippensburg. He remembers the first time he saw the late Roberto Clemente. But it wasn’t so much the games or plays that stand out, as how being at the ballpark was a family affair.
“My mom would roast a turkey and make sandwiches” whenever the Graceys went to Pittsburgh for a game. “If I have a turkey sandwich now, those are the flashbacks I have,” Gracey said.