I met Jeff under the Tom Roth Place sign on Beechmont in Mount Washington across from Kroger. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The noon hour was bright and cool and at first Jeff didn’t want to talk to me.
“Everybody already knows who I am around here,” Jeff told me shaking his head. I had no reason to doubt that about him. Jeff was friendly, intelligent, and funny with a contagious laugh. He smiled and greeted everyone who walked by, even our old friend Garry, aka “Pops,” who strolled by after being kicked out of the Bridge for falling asleep inside.
But eventually Jeff warmed up to me and even though he’s camera shy, he even let me take a picture of him as well.
Meet Jeff
Jeff was born and raised in Linwood. He was the second youngest of 11 children.
“My childhood was good,” Jeff said with a smile.
Growing up in a small house with 10 siblings made them all really close, Jeff told me. One of his favorite memories was when his big brother, Greg, was driving to the Kroger in Fairfax with Jeff and their mother. He remembers Greg blasting Led Zeppelin from the car stereo and everyone was laughing and singing. “Greg was so cool,” Jeff said. “There was something special about him.”
To this day Jeff doesn’t the know why Greg committed suicide. “It was devastating to my mother and to all of us really,” Jeff told me. “Suicide is a very selfish thing, you know. If he wouldn’t have done that I know things would be different for us.”
The impact of his brother’s suicide reverberated beyond his immediate family. “Greg’s fiancé ended up hanging herself at his grave site,” Jeff told me as he shook his head. “Selfish,” he said again.
Looking for Work
“It’s not easy to get a decent job when you got felonies,” Jeff told me. “My record isn’t that bad really, but I got a drug charge a long time ago and I got caught breaking in to the dairy mart down the street about 20 years ago, but that’s it.”
Jeff says he gets a lot of help from Maslow’s Army. “They do a lot of good.” Right now Jeff says he sleeps on the benches in front of Kroger. “I try to stay in view of the cameras where it’s a little safer.” Occasionally Jeff will sleep in the woods.
“Are you worried about the cold?” I asked.
“No I love the cold. No mosquitos, no spiders. The cold can be a good thing.”
This weekend Jeff says he will be going to City Gospel Mission of Cincinnati downtown for assistance. Jeff said it’s a powerful program for the homeless and he’s excited to take part in it.
Taking a sip from a hidden Budweiser can, Jeff admitted that drinking is a big problem for him. “I’ve been sober on and off. I went three years sober once.”
Jeff says he hopes to never return to Mount Washington after the program. “It just became Snootyville,” Jeff said. “Back in the day there were beautiful women everywhere and tons of bars. People would go down to the river and fish and have fires. Everyone was so much more social. Now it’s just boring. People hardly talk to each other around here anymore.”
“Even the prostitutes are gone!” Jeff said laughing, but acting disappointed at the same time.
“Where did they go?” I asked.
“Shit a lot of them died or got so close to dying they went into rehab. I know a few that are doing really good after getting clean.”
Jeff said he lost about 20-30 friends to heroin over the years. “It’s weird how nobody talks about it, but a lot of people are dying out here.”
Did you miss Beechmont Stories (The Man with a Feather in his Hat)? Check it out here.
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None jeff since middle school,real good guy.i didn’t know he was homeless. If any of you see him give him a hand, and if you need a hand he’d probably give it to you. I hope hes doing ok, I’ll have to keep an eye out for him and say a prayer.