To All Josephiles
A week ago today I received that dreadful phone call, sending me careening to my brother, heartbroken.
Joe began life simply, and grew unremarkably in a family with a hardworking dad, a loving, caring (and feisty) mom and two brothers. Right down the middle of the road - safe, healthy, educated, the product of Depression Era parents.
He developed a strong affinity for "his people", encouraged by frequent family vacations to our 'ancestral hunting grounds' - The San Luis Valley. He embodied the qualities of his people that gave direction and ultimately meaning to his life: stoic, aloof, stubborn, dedicated, loyal, independent. And in perfect harmony, curiosity, creativity, humor and wit, a passion for learning and teaching, wandering and service. Service.
When Joe returned from serving in the Peace Corp in Mauritania, Africa where he helped establish farming, he grew restless. He may have put his trust in his spirit guide when he boarded the Greyhound bus in Pasadena that brought him to Alamosa. Perhaps the same spirit that guided me in this last journey, to put together a picture of Joe's time here.
Thank you all for taking time to share your stories, offer you condolences, and answer questions. Thank you Rhonda at Habitat for Humanity, and Muck. Thank you John at the Food Bank. Thank you Ken. Thank you Jordan. Thank you Evan and Miriam at Brew Pub. Thank you La Puente Homes and Food Bank of San Luis Valley for your posts and notices. Thanks to Deputy Coroner Rob Alejo for his professionalism and concern.
In sorting through Joe's personal effects, we have run across several names of people for whom Joe lent a guiding hand on your journey. Gifts, pictures, cards, letters postcards, invitations to weddings and graduations, birth announcements, and plans to come visit, meet up, come on out. Oregon. Virginia. Texas. Brazil. France. Germany.
Quite an impact for an Ordinary Joe.
Hello and thank you out there, Muck, Jordan, Kendra, Bailey, so many others, who I invite to leave a thought or a word. All of you gave Joe the support, strength and energy to fight the personal demons he battled most of his life. He could not have done it without you.
Joe was cremated on Monday, April 3rd. The disposition of his remains is pending. Memorials and celebrations are being arranged by those who knew him well in Alamosa and via social media, with the consent and blessings of the family.
"If life was small, if it has made me scornful,
Forgive me; I shall straighten like a flame
In the great calm of death, and if you want me
Stand on the sea-ward dunes and call my name."
-Sara Teasdale
Leonard, Angela & Sam
Posted by L. Atencio
Wednesday April 5, 2017 at 5:13 pm