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3.20.2003
Thomas P. Medeiros, 40; always willing to help out
Joe Sosnosky hired Thomas P. Medeiros to work at Bradford Original Soap
Works 20 years ago.
He never regretted the decision.
"He had a really bright, bubbly personality," said Sosnosky,
executive vice president of the company. "He was a very caring person
who would help anybody. And his work ethic was just wonderful."
In all the years that Mr. Medeiros, 40, had been employed at the company,
he never missed a day of work, Sosnosky said. And because many of Mr.
Medeiros's family members -- including his brother and two sisters --
also work at Bradford, he was truly part of the fabric of daily life there.
"There are people here who are crying every day when they stop and
think that he is gone," Sosnosky said.
Mr. Medeiros had been a star runner in high school, Sosnosky said he
always prided himself on keeping in excellent physical shape.
He could run like the wind, recalled House Speaker William J. Murphy,
who went to West Warwick High School with Mr. Medeiros and was a teammate
on the boys' cross-country team.
"Tommy was the best runner that ever came from West Warwick High
School," Murphy said.
Mr. Medeiros broke many local and state track records, and was named
Most Outstanding Athlete of West Warwick in his senior year.
Andrea Silva, one of his nieces, said he was more like a brother than
an uncle. A passionate fan of the New England Patriots -- and their former
quarterback Drew Bledsoe -- Mr. Medeiros was planning a trip to Buffalo,
N.Y., next year just to get his name on a football helmet he had inscribed
with other Pats' autographs, she said.
"If you met my uncle, you'd love him right away," she said,
recalling that on a hot summer day, he used his work break to cut his
father's lawn. "He'd do anything for anybody," Silva said. "There
aren't enough words to describe him."
-- Barbara Polichetti
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