'A sparkling light that went out': Friends remember Jiffy Cabs owner Tom Hollett
Friends and colleagues in the taxi business are remembering Tom Hollett as a visionary with a big heart.
The owner of Jiffy Cabs died Saturday after a motorcycle accident near Harbour Mille, on Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula.
"We lost a good man in the taxi industry and I lost — we lost — a good friend," said Albert (Mooney) Newell. "It's been a horrible week."
Newell told the St. John's Morning Show on Monday that Hollett was on his bike as part of a charity fundraiser for autism, and his teenage daughter was a passenger.
"Cheyanne is over at the Janeway. She's got a couple of broken bones in her foot, what I'm hearing, and a femur broke in her leg," said Newell. "She's doing well."
Newell bought Newfound Cabs from Hollett in November 2015, and considered him a close friend.
"Tom was a very generous man. Tom gave back," he said, remembering Christmases where Hollett would hire a driver to anonymously deliver turkeys to families in need.
Hollett was very smart, Newell said, but also laid back.
"Tom's old saying used to be, 'If there's no one on the ground bleeding, Mooney, I'll deal with it tomorrow' … but he'd get it done."
Always dreaming
In Burin, Hollett's hometown, he is remembered for the many projects he engineered over the years to breathe new life into a community that used to be the hub of the peninsula.
"He was a big employer, a great friend and dad, and also he brought a really unique and incredible spirit to Burin and the projects that he's brought," said filmmaker Martine Blue, who lives in the area and knew Hollett well.
"It's a huge loss on so many levels."
Hollett had moved back to Burin, and his ideas to bring more people to the area included a poet's corner lookout over the town, a western-themed Smugglers Cove that catered to motorcycle riders, and old-style British phone booths to offset the lack of cell service in the area.
"He was so creative and his ideas were so off the wall," said Blue. His latest project was a "Hotel of Homes" — designed to bring tourists to Burin.
"What I feel sad about in a big way is that I wish he had lived a bit longer to see it come to full fruition," said Blue.
She added Hollett will be missed for his kindness and generosity, but also for his spirit and his big dreams.
"His creativity, his whimsy, the colour that he put into Burin, I'll miss that, the sparkle. I feel there's a sparkling light that went out."
Blue said Hollett was travelling with a group of motorcylists, all of whom sprang into action, when the accident happened.
"He died doing what he loved," she said tearfully.
Newell, meanwhile, said he plans to erect a monument at the crash site in a tribute to his friend.
Hollett was 61. He is also survived by a son, Christopher.
