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| - Tom Schofield was Ena Sharples's great-nephew, grandson of her brother Tom who emigrated to the USA in 1912. The elder Tom had raised a family in the US, fathering a son also named Tom who had three children, including Tom. He'd lost touch with his family in Weatherfield not long after leaving the country so when his grandson Tom was due in the UK for work purposes, Tom asked him to find Ena and persuade her to come and stay at his log cabin between Omaha and Sioux City, Nebraska, putting up the air fare himself. The younger Tom worked for a travel agent in Omaha, who did package tours of Europe and he'd been dispatched to the UK to check out the hotels.
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| abstract
| - Tom Schofield was Ena Sharples's great-nephew, grandson of her brother Tom who emigrated to the USA in 1912. The elder Tom had raised a family in the US, fathering a son also named Tom who had three children, including Tom. He'd lost touch with his family in Weatherfield not long after leaving the country so when his grandson Tom was due in the UK for work purposes, Tom asked him to find Ena and persuade her to come and stay at his log cabin between Omaha and Sioux City, Nebraska, putting up the air fare himself. The younger Tom worked for a travel agent in Omaha, who did package tours of Europe and he'd been dispatched to the UK to check out the hotels. In order to trace Ena, Tom used a firm of solicitors who put an ad in a local Weatherfield paper asking her to contact them, using her maiden name and last known address of 65 Inkerman Street. Ena, now a widow and living in the Vestry of the Glad Tidings Mission Hall, saw the ad and got in touch. She was informed only that someone would soon contact her and had no idea who was behind the ad until Tom turned up at her door. Ena was very happy to learn that her brother was alive and well and still thought about her. Tom acquainted her with the Schofield line going back to her brother and read a letter from him in which he talked about his childhood memories of her, which moved her to tears. Startled to receive the invite to visit him, Ena wavered on accepting as she was set in her ways and was fearful about flying for the first time. It was only when Annie Walker scoffed at the very idea of her going to America that she announced she was taking up her brother's offer. Tom was in the area a little while longer before flying home with Ena. In that time he sampled Ena's Lancashire hotpot, and defended her when Lionel Petty confronted her over a neighbourhood boycott of the Corner Shop she'd enacted. He also had a minor spat with Len Fairclough when Elsie Tanner accepted a drink from Tom causing a jealous Len to walk out of the Rovers. Over the next eight years, Tom married Faye-Marie and settled in Manchester, Connecticut. In 1973, Tom and Faye-Marie planned a visit to the UK to see the Manchester Festival. A week before they left, Ena's brother Tom passed away in his sleep. Tom and Faye-Marie delivered this news to Ena in person upon their arrival in Weatherfield. Ena took the news well, finding comfort in the fact that he hadn't suffered. Tom wasn't interested in sight-seeing and spent most of the three-week stay in Coronation Street, socialising with Ena's friends and neighbours. He also helped out at the Community Centre's Manchester Festival day by serving at the juice counter. On most of these occasions, he wasn't accompanied by his wife. A notable exception was the Street outing to Woburn Abbey. Tom made the most of the visit by bringing along his camera and taking photographs of the animals at Woburn Safari Park. He and Faye-Marie were delighted when Ena introduced them to The Duke of Bedford. Unlike her husband, Faye-Marie loved to visit new places and wanted to experience as much British culture and history as she could. She fancied herself an intellectual and sought out others for the type of stimulating conversation she didn't get from Tom. Despite this, their marriage was a happy one. While in Weatherfield, she latched onto Ken Barlow, a fellow liberal-minded teacher. Their attachment worried Ena, who asked Tom and Faye-Marie why they hardly spent any time together. Tom explained to her that they had an open marriage, which concerned her all the more. Faye-Marie and Ken convinced Ena that they were only friends and when Tom demonstrated faith in his wife, Ena accepted that their marriage worked for them, even if she didn't understand it. The Schofields then returned home.
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