In fact, the letter said Edison was “addled” and wouldn’t be allowed in school anymore. After discovering the letter after his mother’s death, Edison wrote in his diary, “Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that, by a hero mother, became the genius of the century.” Later in life, Edison said, “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”
Daniel St. Joseph