Remembering the Victims Timothy P.Jackson

Spencer | Jackson | Lyons | McGuirk | Brotherton | Lucey

Editor's Note: Tim Jackson was the first firefighter to be found in the warehouse blaze

KEVIN KEENAN
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Republished with permission

Worcester Firefighter Timothy P. Jackson had a green thumb and often was seen riding his prized Harley-Davidson around Hopedale, the rural town where he lived.

Friends and neighbors remembered him as a kindhearted man who spent many hours toiling in his yard planting trees, shrubs and flowers, and polishing the chrome on his motorcycle. He also loved children, they said.

Firefighter Jackson, 51, was the oldest of 13 siblings. He had served two tours of duty in Vietnam, and he had been a firefighter for 27 years.

Jack T. Toney, a fellow Worcester firefighter, had been friends with Firefighter Jackson since kindergarten. The two fought side by side in Vietnam, and had cemented their friendship through their years in the Fire Department.

“He was a good friend of mine,” Firefighter Toney said. “We went to war together. ... I am really hurting.”

Dwaine and Joyce Dean live next door to the Jacksons, on a busy stretch of Route 16.

Mrs. Dean said she envied Firefighter Jackson's touch with the plants in his yard.

“We were just friendly neighbors. I tried to keep the flowers up on my side. He was always out there pruning and planting trees, making sure everything was growing,” Mrs. Dean said. “He was a wonderful neighbor.”

Carole A. Moore, who said she has lived next to Firefighter Jackson and his family for about 15 years, described him as a sociable, outgoing man who often helped neighbors and stopped to chat with people who were walking pets or working outside.

Ms. Moore said she remembered losing a large tree branch during a fierce snowstorm in 1992. Firefighter Jackson chopped it up and removed it from her yard, she said.

“I didn't know what to do or where to take it. But he came over and got it. He would do anything for you,” she said.

Ms. Moore said that come springtime, she will miss the roar of his Harley.

“He couldn't wait for the winter to end so he can go for a ride on his motorcycle,” she said.

Another neighbor, Jeffrey W. Sanderson, shared Firefighter Jackson's love of riding the road. The two compared notes on their Harleys, which were similar, Mr. Sanderson said, adding that his friend rode a 1997 model that is considered a “full-dresser.”

Firefighter Jackson's love of his Harley-Davidson also was recalled during an emotional moment shortly after the sun set yesterday.

Speaking near the still-smoldering warehouse building in the city, Worcester District Fire Chief Walter C. Giard announced that the lone body recovered from the debris of the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. was that of Firefighter Jackson.

“Probably the most definitive thing I can say about him is he rode a Harley,” District Chief Giard said, fighting back tears. “He was a good guy, on the job for 27 years.”

Another member of the department, Firefighter Kenneth A. Godbout, said he began his career in the city the same day as Firefighter Jackson: Dec. 17, 1972. He and others saw irony in the fact that Firefighter Jackson survived the war only to lose his life in a Worcester warehouse.

“Can you imagine that?” Firefighter Godbout said.

Firefighter Jackson was committed to the causes of Vietnam veterans and would ride his motorcycle to Washington, D.C., for rallies, he said.

“He lived for stuff like that,” Firefighter Godbout remembered. “But he had another side that some guys might be surprised to learn about.

“Timmy had a place in Hopedale, and he called it God's country. ... Then he told me he was into raising lilacs. Funny, but I can still hear him talking about how fragrant those Korean lilacs were that he grew by his back porch stairs.

“What I always will remember, though, is the way that he lived for the action; he wanted to be in it all the time,” Firefighter Godbout said. “It's funny, but at first he refused to drive because he always wanted to be the one to go in and fight the fires.”