Centralight

Four spiral-bound notebooks fi lled with handwritten stories are stacked on a table in front of Clarence Tuma. It's early October and the 89-year-old is almost fi nished compiling the memories of his lifetime for a book he began writing nearly fi ve years ago. His stories are featured in his memoir, "Feeding the World: A One-Pound Pork Chop at a Time," set for a late 2014 release. "If I had known I was going to one day write a book, I would have written a lot of this down as it happened," says Tuma. "Looking back, people may say what made Tuma famous was a pig." The pig he's referring to is one of the delectable entrees from his family's legendary fi ne dining restaurant, the Embers, which closed in 2007 after nearly 50 years as a Mount Pleasant destination. But Tuma's book is about so much more than the Embers. His life's rich history originated with his grandmother sending his father from Lebanon to America when he was just 12 to protect her son from being kidnapped by Turkish nationalists. "What I like is that in telling my story, I get to tell … the stories of other people who are important in my life," Tuma says. Tuma's book includes everything from growing up as one of nine children in Detroit to serving in the Army during World War II, attending and graduating from CMU, and owning a highly regarded restaurant. Tuma spent a lot of time at Park Library writing in notebooks, which he handed off to his granddaughter Samantha Minnis, '05, to read and type into the computer. Toward the end of the process, Tuma connected with friend and author Jack Westbrook to help him put the fi nishing touches on his work. "He opened the Embers two months before I graduated from high school," says Westbrook, who grew up in Mount Pleasant. "His is a classic rags-to-riches story, but his also has been a life of sharing and helping others fulfi ll their dreams." For more information on ordering Tuma's book and the offi cial release date, please visit his offi cial Facebook page – Feeding the World: A One-Pound Pork Chop At A Time. The book also features favorite Embers recipes such as the peas and peanuts salad, pecan rolls, meat loaf and, of course, the one-pound pork chop. • Clarence Tuma, '50, literally pens lifetime memoir BY DAN DIGMANN the chops He's got PHOTO BY STEVE JESSMORE 23 centralight winter'14

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