Hi Judith: I never knew Joe, but feel like I did. Your
touching tribute, as well as janet marie's "joe's story" on
her website, will perpetuate Joe's legacy-the education and
enlightenment of his fellow PWPs and their CGs...Some small
consolation when dealing with the loss of a fine man.
Carole

--- judith richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> On Thursday, January 20, 2000 9:57 AM, janet wrote:
> >Subject: one year later: joe's story
>
>
> >hi all
> >the pages have been renovated
> >but the message is the same
>
> Janet,
>     I want to thank you for remembering Joe at this time,
> and also for
> posting his story so that others can hopefully learn from
> it.
>     It is hard to believe that a year has passed since we
> lost Joe. It
> hasn't been an easy year for some of us and these past
> few days have
> been particularly difficult.
>     We have all moved on with our lives, and so we must,
> but the hurt
> and the sense of loss of a husband, father, grandfather
> and dear friend
> are still here. And questions still remain, but will go
> unanswered.
>     Our support group usually wraps up the season with a
> social
> get-together in June, but last summer we felt we needed
> to do something
> extra for Joe. One couple volunteered to host a pig roast
> (sorry,
> Hilary) in August for the get-together, and out of that
> was born the
> idea of asking for contributions which Joe’s wife, Donna,
> could donate
> for Parkinson's research.
>    We decided we wanted to make it a happy event - a
> celebration of
> Joe's life.
>    As then co-leader of the group, I was asked to say a
> few words about
> Joe, so I'm including a few excerpts from that time...
>
> "A little about Joe:  He was kind of a nut --- a happy
> guy who loved
> life and loved people.
>
> He was Mr. Fix-it.  If it was broken, he could fix it.
> If it wasn’t
> broken, he wanted to know how it worked.  He often joked
> that he had to
> know how to fix things because Donna broke everything she
> touched.
>
> Joe worked at GM Diesel, and one day, to get a rise out
> of Donna, he
> drove a tank home at lunch time.  As it turned out Donna
> wasn’t home,
> but all was not lost -- the neighbours were amused, to
> say the least.
>
> Joe loved cars and ten years ago he co-founded the Forest
> City Ford
> Club, which is still going strong today.  It’s a
> family-oriented
> club, -- not ‘just a club for the guys.’
>
> For years Joe looked for a ‘68 Shelby and finally found
> one.  Donna said
> that when Joe came home from work, he would go into the
> garage and say,
> “Hi honey, I’m home,” --- before he came in to speak to
> her.
>
> Eventually Joe sold the Shelby, but later he bought a
> bright red, ‘91
> Mustang convertible.  One day I heard a - vroom, vroom,
> vroom - and I
> thought, what the heck is that noise?  I opened my front
> door to see Joe
> sitting in his Mustang with the top down and a big silly
> grin on his
> face.
>
> I think that’s how we should remember him. That’s what
> Joe would
> want..."
>
>     Donna donated the money that was raised to Dr. Jon
> Stoessl, Joe’s
> former neurologist, who is now doing Parkinson's research
> at the
> University of British Columbia.
>     Again, Joe's family and Al and I want to thank all
> who helped us
> through very difficult times.
>
> Sincerely,
> Judith
>
> ~~~~
> Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
> [log in to unmask]
>                           ^^^^
>                            \ /
>                          \  |  /   Today’s Research
>                          \\ | //         ...Tomorrow’s
> Cure
>                           \ | /
>                            \|/
>                           `````
>
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com