Found him, or not?

I was about to call it a night when an hour ago I received a message that contained several promising leads for the Mr. Tommy Ward. There were five Tom Wards to choose from, I chose the Tommy Ward who's 56 living in Milford, CT. I knew he graduated high school in 72. So the chronology seemed to fit. Without thinking I called him at once, on the fourth ring a cheerful, deep voice said "hello" in that way that sounds like "Yellow." I asked if he were Tommy Ward; he corrected me and said Tom. I asked if he knew Nancy Anderson. He took a deep breath and then sighed, "Sort of. Why?" I said, "I'll just cut to the chase. Do you remember Amy, the little girl Nancy had?" He said, "No not really, what's this about?" Finally I thought to ask about Naugatuck High--he said hadn't gone there. His voice was soft and weak. We both trailed off and said quiet goodbyes.

So if this was my dad, we got off to a rough start. I remain optimistic. More to come. This I can assure you of.