His mother and sister remained behind to pack up the house in Des Moines. His son remembered being, at age 9, the first in the family to join him, via a train trip, on July 4, 1924. The senior Tibbets remained in Florida to establish his own wholesale confectioner's business. When he saw the palm trees and felt the warmth of the Florida sun, he decided on the spot that this was for him.' later wrote: 'He boarded the train in a blizzard and arrived in Miami two days later in bright sunshine. The senior Tibbets went to Florida to visit his mother, who always wintered there, and as Tibbets Jr. The senior Tibbets had met his Glidden-born future wife while crossing Iowa on business.Ī turning point came during a particularly nasty Iowa winter. His father was employed by his family-operated wholesale grocery company, Warfield, Pratt & Howell, that was based in Chicago and had branches in Davenport, Des Moines and Sioux City.
