Local history: Akron’s Candy Man was a sweet soul
London Stone made Akron a better place in small ways.
His kindness was sincere. His generosity was legendary.
“The Candy Man,” as he was known, gave away lollipops, cash and food to people who needed a little boost. With a friendly smile and a sweet gesture, he spread a little cheer around town. He cared — and it showed.
His story began 600 miles away on a farm near Decatur, Alabama, where James and Willie Stone’s son was born July 5, 1916.
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“My dad was in the Army and was being sent overseas to London just before I was born,” Stone once said. “He told my mother that if the baby was a boy to name him London, and if a girl, to name her London.”
Well, that settled it.
One of 10 siblings, London began working at a young age. The kids toiled from dawn to dusk on the farm. Their formal education was minimal.
“Our school in Alabama only lasted a few months each year and then it was back to the farm,” Stone recalled.
A pivotal moment occurred March 21, 1932, when the skies turned dark and a series of tornadoes swept Alabama. The violent storms killed 315 people, injured 1,874 and destroyed hundreds of buildings.
Stone, who was 15, volunteered to search the debris for victims. He pulled people from the ruins of homes and carried them on the back of a mule.
“Since then, I’ve always had a feeling of wanting to help people,” he told the Beacon Journal in 1973.
Migration from Alabama to Ohio
He didn’t plan to move to Ohio. In the late 1930s, he visited a cousin who had migrated to Akron for work at a rubber company. They traveled to New York to see the Yankees win the World Series and then returned to Akron.
Stone decided to take a job as a pinsetter at Goodyear’s bowling lanes.
He kept thinking about Leola Oden, the beauty he left behind in Alabama. It soon became apparent that he couldn’t live without her.
“I married my childhood sweetheart,” he said. “We were born one farm apart.”
They wed March 24, 1940, in Etowah County, Alabama, and Stone brought his bride to Akron, although he wasn’t sure if they would stay in Ohio.
“I was all set to go back to Alabama when I heard the news.”
The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. The United States was at war.
Stone was transferred Feb. 5, 1942, to the chemical plant at Goodyear Aircraft en route to a nearly 40-career in maintenance at the Akron company.
Generosity on display at Goodyear
His friendly, thoughtful personality stood out. If co-workers forgot their lunches, he bought them meals. If people needed cash, he gave them loans, not overly concerned about whether they would repay him.
Raised on hard labor, Stone was not content to work one job, often taking two or three at a time. He cleaned furnaces, cooked food, hauled trash, mowed lawns — anything to stay busy.
His interest in public safety, no doubt stirred by the Alabama tornadoes, led him to a job at Acme Safety Products, which provided first-aid supplies, helmets, goggles, respirators and other safety equipment. He worked there for 21 years until the business closed in the late 1960s.
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Stone took safety training at the American Red Cross and volunteered as a nurse and first-aid provider at Greater Bethel Baptist Church.
After Acme, he landed a maintenance job at Akron General Hospital, now known as Cleveland Clinic Akron General.
“I was attracted to General because it seemed to be the friendliest among the hospitals,” he explained.
He was friendly right back. Stone would fill a bag with candy and take it to work, visiting every hospital floor and offering sweets to those he saw.
The Candy Man spread cheer
Stone’s trademark was Tootsie Pops, the lollipop with a Tootsie Roll center, whose flavors came in orange, cherry, chocolate, grape and raspberry.
Co-workers began calling him the Lollipop Man or, more commonly, the Candy Man, probably influenced by Sammy Davis Jr.’s smash hit from the movie “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”
But Stone didn’t stop there.
Sometimes when he met a new mother in the maternity ward, he handed her a dollar bill and said: “This is for you to start your baby’s savings account.”
The maintenance worker also liked to treat the hospital’s new employees to meals. He’d invite them in groups to a restaurant and then pick up the tab, or if he couldn’t attend, he’d contact the proprietors ahead of time and charge the bill to his account.
“They come to the hospital and dedicate their lives to others,” Stone told the Beacon Journal. “It’s up to us older people to show that we’re behind them.”
When people asked how he was doing, he always had a positive attitude.
“I’m doing super,” he’d respond.
Or maybe: “I’m doing great.”
He distributed candy like he worked at a five-and-dime store. How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? The world may never know, but Stone advanced a lot of research.
He was most proud of his six children: Pauline, London Jr., Tommie, Brenda, Gloria and Loretta.
Although he had minimal schooling, he highly valued education and made sure that each one of his kids graduated from college.
“I never tell them what to do,” he said. “I just ask them to let me tell them how I see things.”
Akron loses a kind friend
Stone retired from Goodyear in 1984 and General in 1985, but continued to work odd jobs.
When the accident happened in 1990, it was a complete shock.
Stone and another man were trying to unload a riding mower from a pickup truck when it slipped off a ramp Aug. 20 at a Copley home. The heavy equipment pinned Stone to the ground. Its running engine caught fire.
The Candy Man was seriously burned. Paramedics rushed Stone to the burn unit at Akron Children’s Hospital, even following his directions on a shortcut to get there faster. He signed himself in before collapsing.
Over the next two weeks, hundreds of people flooded the hospital to visit Stone. Flowers and cards filled the room. You just know that somebody brought candy.
Stone told his wife, Leola, not to worry because he was saved. He told her to tell everyone that he was sorry he couldn’t do his jobs. His family remained at his bedside, prayed and said goodbye.
London Stone, a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, died Sept. 4, 1990, at age 74. He was buried at Mount Peace Cemetery.
Akron lost a sweet, kind friend.
As the song goes: “Who can take a sunrise? Sprinkle it with dew. Cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two. The Candy Man.”
Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: London Stone cheered people up as Akron’s Candy Man
