one small corner of the universe

As Trista suggested, here is the entire question. I’d love to say that there actually is a context, but as you can see…not so much. I have all of the other answers, and I’m 99.9% sure they are correct, which would make the person referred to in the question in red something-or-other Jones. My gut reaction was Tom Jones, but I can’t find any connection. We are not allowed to use internet search engines, but out of desperation, just to find some direction, I Googled “Tom’s L*ove Connection,” and the only definite match I got was about Tom Arnold. I think that particular hit is just an allusion to the one I’m supposed to find, but I can’t seem to zero in on it. If you refer to Tom’s Love C*nnection in a comment, please replace a letter with an asterisk–I don’t want any of my desperate classmates to think they’ve found something and end up here with yet another desperate classmate.

3. The American equivalent of the word “waistcoat” (VEST) is the last name of a prominent Virginia obstetrician (GAYLE VEST). If you substitute an “r” for the third letter of her last name and a “y” for the fourth letter, you have the name of a deceased poet (VERY), whose first name (JONES) is the same as the last name of the person in whose honor Tom’s L*ve Connection was founded. As a boy, the poet traveled to a city in Russia (KRONSTADT) with his father, who was the veteran of at least one war (WAR OF 1812). The poet was born in a city (SALEM, MA) which lies 9 mi. SSW of a town in which the first dies for making coins in this country were produced (LYNN, MA), and his last name (VERY) combined with the first name of the first wife of the 26th President of the United States (ALICE), is the same as the author of How To Use Peat Moss (ALICE VERY). Where was she born? (ALLEGHANY, PA)