Eighty-six years is a lot of life to live. Yet for those of us that knew him and loved him, it feels like such a very brief amount of time. Tomlin Guyfield Vassell entered this world on September 1, 1931, in Westmoreland, Jamaica. He was the third of ten children. He was a man of small stature, but he was larger than life.
There are so many things that Daddy did well. I’ll try to give you a few of the many occupations he dabbled in. In Jamaica, although he did not learn to read until the age of twelve, he went on to become a pupil teacher under the tutelage of Teacher Spence. As such he became known as “PT”. Daddy described Teacher Spence as a hard task master, but he also credited him with shaping his career in teaching. At that young age, he also studied agriculture and had a green thumb. When he moved to England in 1955, he worked as a rubber tire maker and drove the double decker buses. It was there that he and the lovely Cee Gee wed on February 22, 1957, and after that union, Wendy was born. Daddy performed his fatherly duties with a lot of pride. It was quite evident in the combing of Wendy’s hair in her first birthday photo. It looked like someone had wrestled with a bale of hay and managed to tie it down with a lop-sided bow. He was very proud of that accomplishment.
Tomlin then decided a change of pace was in order from those brutal English winters and packed up and moved to the United States. Things did not start off too well as shortly after he arrived he was rushed to the hospital with a severe attack of kidney stones. It resulted in a scar from his navel to his back. A few years later he had a heart attack. Now there’s a scar running vertically in the center of his chest. Next came the car accident and there is a scar on the back of his neck. All these ailments with repeated recurrences, and still he survived. Nothing would not keep Tommy Vassell down for long. That was not true for the cancer that would eventually take his life.
Next, he had Tracy who challenged him when she was a child by drinking kerosene and kept him on his toes always. And the baby of the family, Tomlin Paul. Everyone says that he is the spitting image of his father. To this day, I still don’t see the resemblance. He was a mentor to so many others and was loved by so many.
Some of the occupations he mastered are dental technician, tutor, relationship counselor, jewelry maker, plumber, electrician, boiler repair man, tile work in Christ Church in Jamaica, and plant miracle worker. Even until the end, he would always find something to fix. He could teach a Jack-of-all-Trades a few things.
Tomlin is survived by wife Icy, children Wendy, Tracy, and Paul, grandchildren Nia and Alexander. He is also survived by siblings Lyn, Alan, Lloyd, Dorothy, Shirley, Pansy, and Keith.

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