Navy veteran Kenny Jary, known as "Patriotic Kenny" on social media, poses on his mobility scooter in this screenshot from a video posted to his TikTok account on May 19, 2026. (TikTok)
Kenny Jary, the Navy veteran who garnered more than 3 million TikTok followers for his sunny outlook and effort to provide free motorized scooters to veterans in need, died Monday in Wyoming, Minn. He was 84.
Known by most as “Patriotic Kenny” for the American flags festooning his own scooter, Jary told his followers this spring that he had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
A GoFundMe page set up to defray the costs of treatment, hospice and a funeral had garnered just over $334,000 as of Tuesday.
“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to every single person who has supported Kenny with donations, messages, and love throughout this journey,” Amanda Kline, who organized the fund drive, wrote on the site Tuesday.
Kenny Jary, known as "Patriotic Kenny" on social media, is pictured during his Navy days in this screenshot from a video posted to his TikTok account on May 19, 2026. (TikTok)
“Kenny left this world the same way he lived in it, with gratitude, humor, patriotism, and a heart dedicated to helping others,” she wrote. “The legacy he leaves behind is truly beautiful.”
Funds not used for Jary’s care and burial will be transferred to the Patriotic Kenny Foundation, which provides mobility scooters to veterans.
Jary, who served aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Okinawa as a helicopter refueler in the early 1960s, had long suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the condition that limited his ability to walk and necessitated use of a scooter.
He gained widespread public attention in 2021 when Kline, his neighbor and friend, set up a TikTok account for him and began posting videos of the veteran lamenting the demise of his decades-old scooter.
That scooter, which was beyond repair because parts were unavailable for such an old model, had been Jary’s sole means of moving about his small town near St. Paul.
Navy veteran Kenny Jary, known as "Patriotic Kenny" on social media, waves to his fans in this screenshot from a video posted to his TikTok account on May 19, 2026. (TikTok)
Kline set up a GoFundMe page with a goal of raising a few thousand dollars to buy Jary a new scooter. A flood of donations came, and within a few weeks the drive had raised more than $110,000.
Videos of Jary weeping as Kline updated him on the response went viral. The pair established the Patriotic Kenny Foundation with the excess proceeds.
The foundation’s most recent available federal income tax return indicates it spent $73,926 to provide 49 free scooters to veterans in 2024.
Many of Jary’s followers posted comments and condolences on his @patriotickenny Instagram page.
“It’s rare to find someone who’s so genuinely kind and cares so much about others,” user orioles_news-now wrote on the site Monday.
“Kenny is a true role model. He lived his life not for himself but for others. I hope one day I can be even half the person Kenny was. His soul is truly one of a kind.”
Funeral plans have not yet been announced.
