[Woodworkers] A Tribute to Joe

[gcw804 at aol.com]

Oh, what to say about Joe,



For those on the list that aren't aware, Joe grew up in Culpeper Virginia, which is about a ninety miles Northwest of  RIchmond. We always talked about getting together when he came East, but unfortunately we never did. 


Years ago, I bought a Rockwell router from the late 1950's or early 1960's on Ebay with the intent of fixing it up and using it. It sat in my shop for several years and I thought I wasn't going to do anything with it, so I called Joe and asked him what his address was, and told him I had a gift for him. . So, I sent it off via UPS and about a week later he called me and sounded like a kid at Christmas. Even though it needed bearings, he was so excited to get it. So he call his friend at Accurate bearings and they suggested that he send it to them to fix. Off it went and when he got it back he said it ran a new one. He was so excited to get such a simple gift. 


I remember one time on the IRC he made me believe he was Roy Underhill, and I completely fell for it. What a fool I was. Fortunately over the years, I met the real Roy Underhill at his studio/class space in Pittsboro N.C.  



Over the years, Joe berated me for having AOL as my ISP, because invariably I would go to delete list emails and hit the spam button instead, and then I wouldn't get any list emails. He would call me up yelling that he had to get Jason to do a work around, and tell me to get the hell rid of AOL or get another email address strictly for the list.


This past summer I reached out to him about maybe stopping by on my way to Dave's reunion. Unfortunately life got in the way and I didn't make either trip. I talked to Joe a couple of weeks ago and he was very open honest about the health challenges he faced. Sadly, he was a lot sicker than he let me believe. 


Yesterday after reading the email about his passing, I went out to his website and read one of his stories (A Beer On A Stick and Your Tail Between Your Knees). I laughed and laughed. So this week I plan to re-visit and re-read some of his stories. I'm sure they too will be funny, and remind me of his truly unique wit.



Joe was a tremendous friend and advocate to and for the woodworking community. A master photographer, storyteller, and essayist. He will be missed by all of us who came in contact with him, no matter how remotely.



Rest in Peace Joe.


Gary Williams




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sawdusters.org/pipermail/woodworkers-sawdusters.org/attachments/20171225/98af591d/attachment.html>