Pa Joe was a gift. God gives us many gifts. I am thankful for the gift of memory that God has given us. Through this gift I can remember some really good times and good friends. After I found out about his passing, I was remembering fond memories I had of him. He was a gift that God gave to many of us. He was a gift God gave to his wife Mollie Sue. He was a gift God gave to his children. He was a gift to his grandchildren. He loved each one very much. He was a gift God gave to me. I was very privileged to have known him. First as a future father in law. Needless to say, I was intimidated by him when I first started visiting over there. He was kinda hard to understand with a chew of Levi Garret. Many times I just nodded at what he said, though I didn’t really know what he was saying through that chaw. But we quickly became friends as we found common ground in the Air Force. He had retired from the Air Force a few years before and I had my sights set on joining in a few years after graduation. Many of our conversations revolved around this. We both enjoyed football. We would talk about the Saints and the Cowboys. Baseball, I never figured out if he hated or liked the Yankees. But he would always talk about them, not in a bad way, but we would talk about George Steinbrenner and the antics of the team. I really think he liked them. Once I entered the Air Force, we could really talk shop. I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about until I had entered. He was always interested in what was going on in the Air Force. After I got out of the service and moved back, we had to make ends meet in whatever way we could. That included working on our own cars. He was the king of the shade tree mechanics. We did what we had to, to keep the cars running. I was mechanically inclined, but clueless once it got passed plugs and filters and other minor repairs. He had worked on engines all his life. Even in the Air Force he worked on airplane engines. As I said we didn’t have a whole lot, so if we needed a tool or a part, we would manufacture (jerry rig) something. He was good at this. I would help him with some of his vehicles. Including “The Tractor”, that he purchased from a farmer that was mad at it because it kept backing him into the creek. It had a few homemade manufactured parts on it also. I remember having to rebuild the engine in my truck. There is no way I would have done it without him there to show me what to do. Ugh, he made a good supervisor. Well we got it working and it ran for more years to come. Eventually we had to rebuild the transmission on my son’s blazer. We got him over to the house to help. I am not so sure any of us knew what we had tackled there. We got it together though. As I said, he loved his kids. And he loved his grandkids. Who can forget him saying “Once upon a dime” and our kids saying, no that’s not right. Joe never seemed to be in a hurry. But I have an image in my head from what my kids told me. When the four wheeler caught on fire, they were amazed to see him jump off the porch and run with a fire extinguisher to put it out. . I will never forget Christmas mornings, when the kids would take the presents to him for him to open. I will never forget going fishing with him. The lake was kind of on the low side and the wind blew us into an area that was too shallow for the motor to be used. So we used the trolling motor that was not bolted to the front of the boat. I think we must have spent an hour going against the wind trying to find the channel so we could use the main motor. Finally someone came along and showed us where the main channel was at. He was very punctual. He would pull that pocket watch out grab his thermos and head off to work. Just like clockwork every time. It had been a few years since I had talked with him, but when he was in the hospital down at Bernice, I ran down there and it was just like old times. We talked about the same old things just like always. Well I could go on, but Pa Joe was a kind soul who would help anybody. We love you and will miss you Pa Joe.
