Submitted photo Thomas Plumeret of Hubbard, who was an Air Force veteran of the Korean War, loved to send greeting cards year-round. His granddaughters are carrying on the tradition, declaring Feb. 7 as National Send a Card to a Friend Day.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of a series of Saturday profiles of area residents and their stories. To suggest a profile, contact features editor Burton Cole at bcole@trib today.com.

HUBBARD — Thomas Plumeret was a great many things during his 83 years.

He was a 1953 graduate of Hubbard High School and remained a Hubbard resident. He was an engineer at Ohio Edison. He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force who served during the Korean War.

“He enjoyed visits from his daughters and grandchildren. He was quick-witted, intelligent and never failed to have just the right advice, no matter the occasion,” granddaughter Marcy Angelo said.

“He spent countless hours in gymnasiums, on track fields, inside barns and show arenas, bowling alleys and school auditoriums — wherever our events were taking place,” she said.

And he always showed up with juice boxes and doughnuts in hand, even as they grew older.

Another of Tom’s penchants was sending greeting cards to loved ones regardless of the occasion. Birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, anniversaries, graduations or for no reason in particular — family members could always count on a card from Tom.

“Sending a card is like sending a hug by mail in my family. It’s become our tradition,” Angelo said.

When the family patriarch died last summer, the family was devastated, comforted only by the fact that he was rejoined with his beloved wife of 35 years, Mary Ellen, who died in 1993. Angelo remembers how he always spoke of her as if she was still alive, even after she had passed away.

“She was his one and only. He never dated again, and I’m certain he is happy to be back in her arms,” she said.

In a quest to keep Tom’s legacy of love alive, Angelo and her twin sister, Courtney Angelo-Pantone of New Mexico, and their older sister Kristen Angelo of Toledo, resolved to perform 84 acts of kindness between Sept. 21 — Tom’s birthday — and Christmas — his favorite holiday.

“We sent out more than 500 cards between the three of us,” she said.

That wasn’t all they did to keep Tom’s memory alive.

The various acts of kindness included taping money to vending machines, buying the coffee for passengers in a drive-through line behind them, etc.

“We definitely focused on our hometown initially because wherever we are, Hubbard will always be our home,” said Angelo, who splits her time between Hubbard and Brownsburg, Ind. “But we spread the wealth and joy wherever we are.”

Which is what prompted the trio to establish Project Tom.

The organization’s mission statement posted at www.projecttom.org reads: “Project Tom is a place for sending out hope and joy into the world, one card at a time. We send cards all over the world for any occasion or reason … completely free. We depend on donations to make this possible. … Brightening up someone’s day is our only goal.”

The sisters hope to send cards to people in all 50 states and even overseas, with special consideration of members of the U.S. military.

“We’ve regularly sent cards, care packages, Girl Scout cookies, etc. any time we know someone that’s serving. The Air Force will always have a special place in our hearts, due to Papa serving in that branch.”

Word of mouth and social media have been their marketing strategy to date, and they use a Google spreadsheet to track cards sent.

Angelo estimates that Tom himself likely sent out thousands of cards during his lifetime and, in a push to help them spread more joy and to carry on his legacy, they have declared Feb. 7 as National Send a Card to a Friend Day.

“It’s fitting because, ironically, that is the day we lost our grandmother,” she said. “And it’s also appropriate because in many ways, Papa was our best friend.”

“He was especially proud to have a grandson who followed in his electrician footsteps and was so proud of our higher education accomplishments,” Angelo said.

He had an affinity for certain adages that she and her siblings referred to as “Papa-isms.” They included, “A failure to plan is a plan to fail,” and “The definition of intestinal fortitude is being able to hang out with the devil and not adopt his ways.”

Any time a family member faced a challenge, he’d always encourage them to “drop back and punt” and was a fervent believer that dessert should always be consumed before dinner.

“If I die during dinner, I don’t want to have missed the best part,” he said.

Angelo said that if they could send him just one more card it would be “a ‘just because’ card telling him how much we miss and love him and how we hope he’s looking down on us not missing a thing. We’d sign it ‘XXOO’ as he put that at the end of every card.”