June 2008 • Talk of Takoma

Tile in memory of a tile master

by Marika Partridge

Tile portrait of Ed Hume, by John Hume, will hang in Mark’s Kitchen

“Uncle Ed” Hume lived in downtown Takoma Park for 47 years. He was a striking figure: tall, thin, and straight-backed. He was a Master Tile Setter, a maverick who chose not to have a telephone, and sometimes decided to do a job for free. When he refused payment for laying a floor at Mark’s Kitchen, Mark refused to let Uncle pay for meals. That’s how the corner table at Mark’s became the place to find Uncle Ed if you needed him.

John Hume – no relation – is a tile maker at Sligo Creek Tiles. The two became friends over their shared name. “Since he had no phone, I used to get calls for him. I knew I’d find him if I went to Mark’s first thing in the morning. We always wondered if we were somehow related,” said John, “and finally decided that if we were, it had to go back hundreds of years to Scotland.”

When Uncle Ed died at the age of 81 in October 2006, his neighbor, Rev. Phil Wheaton, presided over the funeral, but in Uncle Ed style, he wouldn’t accept payment. He instead wanted to use the money for some sort of memorial for Uncle. Another neighbor, Bruce Sidwell, imagined a commemorative tile panel, made by John Hume, which would be mounted by Uncle Ed’s corner table Mark’s . And now the work is done.

A four-panel installation depicting Uncle Ed and the tools of his trade will be unveiled on Sunday June 29, 2008 at 4:30pm at Mark’s Kitchen. The community is invited.

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