Tom Wolfe of Tampa, Florida, was born and raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and attended St. Pete Jr. College and Penn State. In 1955 he joined the U.S. Air Force and moved to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. During Service as an MP he served in Okinawa and North Africa, traveled over 20,000 miles, and his task was to secure and load atomic bombs. After Service he became a deputy sheriff and then pursued an interest in chemistry at the Jim Walter Research Corporation.In 1964 he took an interest in bromeliads while looking for landscaping plants. During his lunch breaks, he perused horticultural magazines. He found a small "mom and pop" nursery and began visiting every weekend to buy a few plants for his landscaping project. Bromeliads caught his eye and he bought two or three on each trip to the nursery. Eventually, the owners asked if he would like to know their source for bromeliads. It turned out to be Velva Dean's Tropicals owned by Velva Dean and Ervin Wurthmann located in the Town and Country area of Tampa. He visited Velva Dean's and describes the experience: "Upon arriving at the nursery and seeing three greenhouses full of plants, two of which were all bromeliads, I was dazzled by the sight and impressed by their knowledge of plants."
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机译：佛罗里达州坦帕市的汤姆·沃尔夫（Tom Wolfe）在宾夕法尼亚州的威尔克斯·巴里（Wilkes-Barre）出生和成长，并就读于圣彼得小学院和宾夕法尼亚州立大学。 1955年，他加入了美国空军，并迁至坦帕的麦克迪尔空军基地。在担任国会议员期间，他在冲绳和北非任职，旅行了20,000英里，他的任务是保护和装载原子弹。服役后，他成为副警长，然后在吉姆·沃尔特研究公司（Jim Walter Research Corporation）从事化学工作。1964年，他在寻找美化植物的同时对凤梨科植物产生了兴趣。在午餐时间，他细读了园艺杂志。他找到了一个小小的“妈妈和流行”苗圃，并开始每个周末拜访，为他的美化项目买几株植物。凤梨座引起了他的注意，每次去托儿所时，他都买了两三个。最终，主人问他是否想知道凤梨的来源。原来，这是Velva Dean和Ervin Wurthmann所拥有的Velva Dean的Tropicals，它们位于坦帕的Town and Country地区。他参观了Velva Dean家，并描述了这种经历：“到达苗圃后，看到三个充满植物的温室，其中两个都是凤梨科植物，我的视线使他们眼花and乱，他们对植物的了解也给我留下了深刻的印象。”
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