Ed Grisamore: Pepperoni on the menu, Ham on the payroll

WARNER ROBINS -- When Justin Ham came home from college last weekend, his father greeted him at the door with a hug.

“Wow,” said his dad, Tim Ham. “This is the first time in years you’ve come home and haven’t smelled like pizza.”

Yes, it has been awhile since at least one of the Ham children hasn’t walked through the living room with the scent of pepperoni in their hair. Or gone to bed and dreamed of slices of supreme with extra mozzarella.

For the past 22 years, My Father’s Place on Moody Road has had sausage, mushrooms, black olives, green peppers and onions on the menu and a Ham on the payroll.

All five Ham children -- Kenny, Jimmy, Steven, Christy and Justin -- have handled every duty from cooking pizzas, taking orders at the counter, sweeping the floor in the dining room and delivering homemade pizza all over town from Sandy Run to Sunshine Way.

And each time they collected their paychecks, you might say the Hams were bringing home the bacon.

Kenny Ham, now 37, started an unbroken chain of employment for the four Ham brothers and their sister in 1989 -- the year after owner Todd Sichelstiel opened the family pizza parlor on a literal leap of faith.

Since then, Tim and Denise Ham have always had a child working there -- sometimes three at a time -- until last month.

In August, Justin, the baby of the family, left for college at Valdosta State.

Suddenly, there was an empty nest at the Ham House -- and at My Father’s Place.

“That’s when it hit me,” Todd said. “I’ve never not had one of the Ham children working for me.”

Then he laughed. “I guess I’ll have to wait until the Ham grandkids come in and apply for a job.”

Todd grew up in Pennsylvania and has spent his life in the food business. He had wanted to open a restaurant in New York but was lured South by his father, Robert Louis, who lived in Houston County.

Todd started a pizza place in a former liquor store on Moody Road and named it “My Father’s Place” after his heavenly father.

It also was a way to honor his earthly dad, who died in January 1990 and had given him both moral and financial support as he pursued his dream.

A commercial real estate agent convinced Todd that Moody Road was ripe and ready for an explosion of growth. Without a crystal ball, that was not easy to see. But it was.

“There wasn’t much out this way when I opened,” he said. “I didn’t have a sign out front, and I didn’t have salt and pepper shakers on the table. I was sleeping some in my office.”

He didn’t take a day off from October 1988 until Valentine’s Day in 1989, when he took his future wife, Dorothy, on a date.

Todd knew the Ham family through his church. The same year he opened the restaurant, the Hams moved from Washington, D.C., to Warner Robins.

Tim was working at the Pentagon and was brought to Robins Air Force Base as chief of operations with the 5th Combat Communications Group, often referred to as the “5th Mob.”

Todd was looking for a young person to help out at the restaurant during the afternoons. Denise was home-schooling the four oldest children, which gave them flexibility in their work hours.

Kenny was 15 when Todd hired him. He was saving money for a car. Denise and Tim liked the idea of their son working for a family-oriented and faith-based business. It was also close to their home. Kenny could walk if he wanted. Their neighborhood was less than a mile away.

Todd said Kenny had it tougher than the others. He was there for all the growing pains in the salad days of the restaurant. Todd has mellowed considerably.

After being home-schooled in their early education years, the Ham children went on to graduate from Warner Robins High School.

There was a time when Kenny, Jimmy and Steven all worked at the restaurant at the same time. Kenny, 37, is now an electrical engineer living in Warner Robins and is married with two children. Jimmy, 35, received his degree in criminal justice, has two masters and a Ph.D, and works in the federal court system in Albany. He is married with four sons. Steven studied electrical engineering at Mercer (he also has his masters degree.) He lives in Vermont with his wife and three daughters.

Christy Adams, the Hams’ only daughter, took orders and worked the cash register at My Father’s Place. She is 29 and is married with one daughter and lives in Tampa, Fla.

Justin is at Valdosta State, where he will study environmental science.

Denise and Tim still plan to stop by and eat at least once a week. That has become a family tradition and will not change. They admit they will miss the children coming home with stories about what happened at work.

Like all those times former Gov. Sonny Perdue would stop by for a bite. Conveniently enough, Perdue’s church, Second Baptist, is located across the corner on Moody Road.

There are enough stories to fill a book.

“Jimmy remembers (accidentally) making tea with salt instead of sugar, and it was served to a packed dining room,” said Tim. “He received a tip from a delivery that included allen wrenches, screws and change.”

Denise said working at the pizza restaurant helped her children develop skills to deal with people. They also learned to navigate their way around Warner Robins in the days before GPS.

“When we moved here 23 years ago, I didn’t know that we would not be moving again, since that is what Air Force families do,” said Tim. “My subsequent assignments, however, were as a ‘geographic bachelor’ while my family stayed in Warner Robins. We felt it was important to give them a stable home life.”

Their children’s work ethic was a by-product of that commitment. Todd calls the Hams “an amazing American family.”

To express his gratitude for their 22 consecutive years of dedication, he has framed a photograph of the family, and it now hangs on a wall in the restaurant.

Reach Gris at 744-4275 or gris@macon.com.

This story was originally published September 4, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Ed Grisamore: Pepperoni on the menu, Ham on the payroll."