02/02/2003

Dean Gregson, of Barrington, spent the blizzard guiding his new John Deere snowmobile through drifting snow, rescuing stranded motorists and delivering medicine to people held captive by the storm.

After arriving at home exhausted on Feb. 6, Gregson got a call from the Barrington police asking him to transport Dr. B.J. Thomas, of West Barrington, to the Bristol Medical Center, where a woman was giving birth.

"You should have seen the doctor coming down the stairs," he wrote, "top coat, boots and regular pants. I told him, " 'Doc, you will freeze to death before we get to Middle Highway.' " He came back out looking like a snowman."

When the two arrived in Warren, Gregson said it looked like a sea of snow: "You would climb six or seven feet in the air and then climb down as the snow drifts were that big."

Gregson finally dropped Dr. Thomas off at his destination and wished him luck. Physically drained, he rode home through the deepening drifts with a fellow snowmobiler, Bob Dowler.

"When The Providence Journal came out . . . there was an article in it about the unidentified snowmobiler who delivered the doctor in time to deliver the baby. I was that person. My wife and I were very happy that both mother and baby were fine."

Dean Gregson

38 Anthony Rd.

Barrington