Edward Valentine
Well how do you sum up 42 years of friendship and brotherhood with a man like Joe without writing a whole book? I was introduced to him by Col. Bruce Carr USAF (ret) in 1982. I think Bruce thought that we would get along as all of us loved to hunt and fish. As usual Bruce was right on. Joe and I hit it off immediately and subsequently went through 3 divorces and three marriages together with him being the best man at my wedding. An abundance of tears, laughter and life shared around the outdoors. The goose club, deer hunting at the Warsaw's farm and adventures north of the border will always be some of my fondest memories. Every one of my friends that I introduced Joe too was greatly saddened by the news of his passing and had nothing but praise for the time they spent with him.
With that as a background let me make a few observations about Joe. I had the privilege to serve on Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf's staff during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He impressed upon me what the key qualities of a leader truly were. The top two were "to take charge" and the other "to always do the right thing". Joe was a true leader in that regard and the personal embodiment of those leadership characteristics. He was a moral person and had the best judgement I have ever run across. Numerous times he successfully dealt with difficult situations that I know I would not or could not have handled nearly as well. The other aspect that I admired him for greatly was the way he molded his two sons into the fine individuals that they are today. I do not know Christopher very well but was truly impressed with his bearing and eloquence at Joe and Karen's recent marriage. However, his son Steve became one of the finest men you could ever meet. Joe was so proud of him and rightly so. I remember driving with Steve and Joe to VMI. Joe would have traded places with Steve in a heartbeat and I was sorry that Joe never had the opportunity to attend a fine institution like VMI as he would have excelled at it. Joe loved his boys with all his heart and did everything he could to make sure that he would be a superb role model, authority figure and loving parent. The results speak for themselves when you meet his sons. The other thing that I was so happy about was when he met Karen. Joe, Karen and I went on a trip to Kansas together and it was readily apparent that he had met his soulmate and would be happy in their relationship. Attending their wedding brought me great joy and I was looking forward to a long relationship with them both. It breaks my heart that Joe is no longer here to enjoy that superb and unique union but at least he had it for a while. Thank you Karen for what you did for him.
Lastly, Joe was a man of faith. He was so proud of his role in the Church and it was a blessing to watch he and Karen grow in their faith together. There is no doubt that he believed in an afterlife where he and I could once again be together, Brothers in word and deed and sharing adventures as we did when he was on this earth. Since he was right about so many things I will just accept that he is right about this as well. I will see you Joe in the not too distant future where we can share our love of the outdoors, adventure and bring together all those friends and family that we shared our lives with while you were here. Thank you for being such a good friend and mentor to me; I will always be in your debt. We are brothers forever.
