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Kentucky Local Inspiring Kindness Through Hardship and Generosity

“Peewee” and Molly Reese | Photo submitted by Molly Reese


Finally, it all makes sense to Molly Reese. 

She wondered why her dad was always working instead of spending time with her. Her dad was often absent for her high school volleyball games, and there would be days she didn’t see him at all.

Leaving a Legacy

But now, as a 20-year-old college senior, Molly Reese now appreciates what her dad is — a focal point of the community who makes people’s lives better.

“My dad is the most caring and giving person. He puts every single person before himself,” Reese said. 

Molly has seen the pressure her father has felt while understanding it’s his passion. Now, she faces a tough choice — Carry out his legacy or forge her own path? It has been Reese’s dream since middle school to open a daycare.

“I’ve always been passionate about kids,” Reese said. “I have two older brothers and between the three of us I think we would feel a lot of pressure to keep the restaurant open.”

The town with no name

Crescent Springs’s history can be traced back as far as 1850. Then, the town was known only as a part of the country located south and west of Cincinnati, OH. Four families were majority landowners at the time, but by 1883 there were 35 families. 

Cincinnati Southern Line Railway

In the mid-1890’s, the Cincinnati Southern Line railway had a route that ran from Ludlow to Somerset, KY, and the tiny town was passed by with increasing “unscheduled” stops. 

Land parcels were being auctioned off around the time the railway changed its name to the Queen and Crescent Railroad. These developments brought attention to the town that had no name. 

Crescent Springs Depot

Two stories emerged as to how Crescent Springs got its name. The first is the crescent shape the tracks make as it passes through town, the second was derived from the newly named Queen and Crescent Railroad. 

Soon a depot was built and passengers had an official drop-off and pick-up point. 

Buttermilk Pike, a one-lane dirt road, was the main thoroughfare famously named when dairy farmers transported their milk along the bumpy road in the heat and humidity and ended up with churned buttermilk by the time they reached their final destination. Buttermilk Pike is now a five-lane state highway.

The locals constructed signs and posts with the words “Crescent Springs”, but it wasn’t officially founded until 1957.

Story of “Peewee” Reese

Timothy “Peewee” Reese, owner of Peewee’s Place got his nickname in college after “Pee Wee” Reese, the shortstop who played for the LA Dodgers from 1940-1958. Peewee played football for the University of Kentucky and Georgetown and majored in business. 

Timothy “Peewee” Reese in Highschool Football Uniform

He has owned several businesses, but when the recession of 2009 bankrupted his construction business, CenterLine, he found an opportunity to pursue a lifelong passion of restaurant ownership.

Peewee worked out a deal with a friend and purchased the old Speakeasy bar on Anderson Rd. The bar had a reputation as the local dive and needed extensive repair but the location was ideal and Peewee’s previous expertise made him a prime candidate to tackle the challenge.

“It’s always been his dream. He came home one day and was like ‘hey I bought a restaurant’ and that was pretty much that. He would get there at 5:30 in the morning and would be home after I went to bed for the night.”

Molly Reese

Reese and her mother, Kim, often struggled with Peewee being at the restaurant and working so many hours, but they always managed to work through it. At the time, Kim co-owned and operated an embroidery business, A Stitch Above, but did what she could with the time she had to support her husband. She eventually broke from her business partner and went to work full-time at Peewee’s Place.

Disabilities and opportunities

When Reese turned 20, she also started working at the restaurant so she could spend more time with her dad. It is now that she sees what she couldn’t see before. 

Looking around the restaurant one can see how much Peewee cares about the people he encounters. There are pictures of friends who have passed away gracing the walls, as well as inspirational quotes that can be found throughout the restaurant. The restaurant paints a true sense of Peewee’s character and the love he has for his people. 

Much of what Peewee does cannot be explained but must be experienced to fully understand the level to which he serves. Peewee provides opportunities for people with disabilities as well as those with opioid addiction. Peewee’s passion runs much deeper than restaurant ownership, it is about family and community. 

“He’s really opened my eyes about caring for others and for putting other people before yourself and killing people with kindness,” Reese said.

Peewee recalls a time he saw a post on social media that told the viewer to envision a starting line. ‘Imagine you and the people you know are on it, then take a step for every question that pertains to you.’

It began by saying, “Take a step if you grew up in a two-parent household.” He took a step. “Take another step if you graduated high school.” He took another step. For every question, he kept stepping forward. 

As he looked back, he saw that many people he envisioned on the starting line had never even taken the first step. Peewee made it his mission to reach back and help others along the way who have not been as fortunate as him. However, his kindness doesn’t always come without hardship.

Tough decisions

One night Peewee was driving home on Christmas Eve and saw a man with a cardboard sign on the side of the road. Feeling compelled to help, he handed the man 100 dollars, which was thrown back in his face. 

A brief conversation led to the discovery that he was a former employee of Peewee’s construction company. The man became homeless after being laid off and was living under a bridge. Peewee called friends and family and they pulled together to furnish him with an apartment that very night. Peewee offered the man employment at the restaurant and life was seemingly good. 

Peewee later discovered the man was stealing from him, and the man was sentenced to jail. The day the man was released, he overdosed and died. Peewee still questions if he made the right decision to call the police or if he should have taken matters into his own hands.

Situations like these would cause most people to question where you draw the line in helping others, but Peewee is an exception. 

In fact, he has helped 30 heroin addicts get sober and move on to live successful lives. Without a treatment center in Crescent Springs, he has become a haven for those looking for a positive role model and support.

Camaraderie and Community

Carl Cohen, a young man who works for Peewee, also looks up to him as a father figure. Cohen had worked for Peewee years before and they formed a special bond. Cohen’s mother feared that their own relationship was in jeopardy and moved Cohen out to California. The cost of living was high and it wasn’t long before they ended up living on the streets. 

After six years of homelessness, Cohen ended up on a bus back to Kentucky. Peewee didn’t know that he had returned right away, but they eventually reunited. Cohen told Peewee that his mom died and told him if anything ever happened to her, go back to Kentucky and find Peewee and he would take care of him. She was right.

Peewee not only gives Cohen a ride to and from work at Peewee’s Place, he also helped him get on disability, government assistance, and obtain an apartment. Cohen is now a thriving member of the community. 

Many of the people who work at Peewee’s Place depend on it as their sole source of income. Peewee made a conscious decision to keep the restaurant open through the pandemic and used this time to renovate the interior and exterior of the restaurant.

Peewee kept his employees busy and used the catering business as a means of generating revenue. Although the dining room was closed, customers could still place orders and use the drive-through window to pick up their food. 

Friends of the restaurant would often leave large tips and one man even handed over 2,000 dollars and asked that the staff on duty be paid. 

Even through some of the toughest times, Peewee found ways to serve his community. He had heard some nuns at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church contracted COVID, so he organized a drive to provide meals for the nuns. The community helped to provide them with more than $12,000 worth of meals.

This act of kindness led two local students of St. Joseph’s Catholic School, Matt and Charlie Noe, with the help of their father David, to collect $800 for Peewee’s Place by going door to door in their community. 

This reciprocity of kindness circulates Crescent Springs as the result of one man’s efforts, and his daughter, Reese, is taking note. 

Pressure from within

She is inspired by her father and often wonders if she will be the one to carry on his legacy when the time comes. She recognizes that his involvement is a great sacrifice and requires a level of time commitment that she could see interfering with her own plans for the future.

“It’s a really big struggle to manage a family and to manage the business at the same time. I see how much he works and how much he’s away from his family and I don’t think I want to do that.” Reese said.

She began babysitting in middle school and is currently pursuing a degree from the University of Cincinnati and is set to graduate in 2021. She says that her father supports her dream to open a daycare, and offers his experience in starting a business. 

“It’s always been her passion to get into daycare. She’s in education and she’s doing phenomenal,” Peewee said.

Reese admits the pressure she feels is from within and Peewee has no expectations of her to assume his role. However, that doesn’t make it any easier on Reese as she sees his work as an integral part of the community.

“After how hard my dad has worked after all these years to create such a safe and comfortable place, I wouldn’t want to just throw that away. It would just break my heart and I do think about that a lot.”

Molly Reese

Passionate pursuit

Father and daughter have present passions that encompass the past and future. Peewee wants to help people with difficult pasts, Reese wants to mold childrens’ futures. 

Reese says that recent changes in the education field due to COVID make her question what the future holds, including opening a daycare. She sees herself in the education field for the next several years but finds that her passions are ever-evolving.

“I can’t see myself in education my whole life,” Reese said. “I already see myself doing multiple different things in my life.”

Reese and her father recently attended a beautiful wedding reception and they couldn’t help but discuss opening a wedding venue of their own. Peewee suggested that it could be a part of the family business catered by her grandparents, which was an idea that Reese really gravitated to.

Reese does not see her love for business ownership as a conflict of interest in her pursuit of a degree in education. She sees her degree as a stepping stone on the path to fulfilling her passion.

Peewee plays a big role in expanding Reese’s drive to achieve and exceed her goals by researching and sending her information that could help her make informed decisions. Even still, Reese often thinks about the future of Peewee’s Place.

Reese believes that carrying on tradition and chasing her dreams are both important. When asked what advice her father would give her Reese replied,

“He would definitely tell me to chase my dreams over anything.”


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