Tom Jessop, a Winslow Gardens resident and U.S. Air Force veteran, was featured in an August 11, 2025 column by Providence Journal writer Mark Patinkin. Here is the story:
Mark Patinkin gets a life lesson from a veteran: Keep on rolling, come what may
Mark Patinkin, Providence Journal
I was cycling in Providence when I passed a shirtless middle-aged man on a motorized wheelchair-scooter, and I was intrigued but kept pedaling, not sure he would want to be bothered.
Then I thought, why not try? He was stopped at the time, so I did a U-turn, and pulled up next to him.
“I like the American flag you got there,” I said.
It was on a pole attached to the back of his chair.
“Well, I’m a veteran.”
He spoke slowly, his words a bit slurred.
I asked his name.
Tom Jessop. He’s 66. He could tell I was curious about his situation.
“I had a major stroke 2½ years ago,” Tom explained.
“But you’re getting out here,” I said.
“Yes, I am.”
I gave him my name, and he recognized it from the newspaper.
“Oh, the sportswriter,” said Tom.
I smiled. “Yes, close enough,” I said.
There was a Red Sox tattoo on his left arm.
He told me he’s a longtime fan of the team. Pedro Martinez was his favorite. “He was the best in a generation.” A Patriots tattoo was on his other arm, and he had a third one with the name Michelle. That’s his adult daughter. Around his neck, he had a Life Alert device.
Tom reached for a camo hat in the basket on the front of his scooter-chair and put it on. It said “U.S. Air Force.” He told me he’d served from 1977 to 1981.
“After Nam.”
He did boot camp in Texas and was stationed at Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he fixed radios and radar systems on FB-111 fighter-bombers.
He’s proud of the four years he served but wishes he had made a 20-year career of it, as his old man had advised. Both the honor and pension would have been nice, Tom said, but he does get free medical.
“I can’t thank the VA enough for that,” he said.
https://www.newportri.com/story/news/columns/2025/08/10/veterans-life-lesson-after-stroke-keep-rolling-says-mark-patinkin/85530625007/ 2/58/11/25, 9:07 AM Veteran’s life lesson after stroke: Keep rolling, says Mark Patinkin
He’s now in assisted living in East Providence at Winslow Gardens. He’s been there six months. Before that, he was in a different facility that wasn’t as nice. Tom loves Winslow Gardens.
He had his stroke on Jan. 26, 2023, in the East Providence apartment where he was living alone. Luckily, a visiting nurse was there because he’d had a smaller stroke years earlier that left him with some balance problems.
But this one was a lot worse, making it harder now for him to speak, and walk, except for a few steps on level ground. It was also difficult psychologically. The day before the stroke he was doing an upper-body workout at the YouFit Gym in North Providence, and now, here he is.
We were on the East Side on the bike path connector that runs from near the Salvation Army building to India Point Park.
How, I asked Tom, did he get all the way over here from East Providence?
It wasn’t so hard, he said. He drove his wheelchair over the Henderson Bridge. It took about a half hour. The chair can go 5 miles per hour.
Why does he like to come this far?
“It represents freedom for me,” said Tom.
And he loves this hidden bike-path stretch. It’s a lot safer than negotiating side streets.
After the Air Force, Tom spent 20 years driving box trucks, first for a dairy, then a bakery. We laughed about how that was a full Rhode Island, and, in fact, he remembered driving during snowstorms, because especially then, both milk and bread had to get through.
Tom had a pack of Maverick cigarettes in a side pouch. He took one out and as he lit it, I asked if he had done any other kinds of work.
Yes – restaurants.
“You name it. Prep. Some cooking. Waiting on tables.”
They were small neighborhood places in North Providence, one called Ralph’s Bull & Claw, the other called Mazey’s.
He finished his cigarette and put the unsmoked part in the basket on the front of his scooter.
“I guess you’re careful about littering,” I said.
Tom smiled. “That’s correct.”
It was 3:30 p.m. He had left the facility at 1 and expected to be back at 4. So it was time for him to get going.
I asked again why he keeps an American flag on his chair.
“Number one, for visibility and safety,” said Tom, “number two, for what it represents. It represents America.”
I asked his philosophy of life.
“Live for today.”
Then we said goodbye, and, at a good clip, Tom Jessop headed home in his motorized scooter-chair, having taught me that no matter what happens, you can’t let it stop you.
mpatinki@providencejournal.com