Memories of Joe

[Beaver]

Never say “I forget”, CaptureThe Memory. Every Good and Perfect Gift Comes  From Above.     

 

I like to start with a prayer. God is great, God is good, and we thank Him for our food, by His hands we all are fed, thank you Lord for  our daily bread.

 

I want you to know as a child of God you must never say, “I Forget” although you can say “I can not recall”? This will clear it self as I go on.

 

I was going through the pictures on the memory sight and saw the one of Joe and Patty’s 50th, June ,23, 2011.

I do not find it irony that our first born son was June 23, and we named him Joe.

 

I start with this because as I celebrate Joe’s life I remember He use to pick me up and take me with him on a deer hunt and about lunch time, we would meet at the truck and he would have a loaf of bread, with cold cuts, vienna sausage, crackers, long horn cheese cut from a wheel, and coke. Bottle water was not a popular item then.

 

 He never asked what I may want, but some how He knew. It could not have been better if it was catered by a five star restaurant . At 13 or 14 you stay hungry, and Joe always seem to know what would fit the bill.

 

We hunted for years to come and he was there when I harvested my first deer and maybe the second? Although he was in hearing when I harvested the third deer, he knew he had showed me how to dress my kill and  helped me dragging it to the truck years before, I knew he was not going to answer, I hollered anyway. I knew when he had not answered back the student had arrived at a cross road, going it alone, with what I had been taught.

 

When you are a living example, you have to know when not to answer.

 

I have been in the woods many times and have Joe seem to know just where I was and would walk right up on me, I am not sure if it was because we loved the same things, or he was lead by the same spirit? It just happened. Once I went into the woods to hunt deer, harvested a turkey before I got in my stand, and hung it in a tree to keep it off the ground, and Joe walks up under me and stands right by the turkey hanging in the tree, I grinned from ear to ear  because not only was he standing so close but above him I sat and he did not know I was there. I pondered my thought as to how we had been so close, and him not know? The student had become the teacher. I made a noise so he would look up, and you could  see in him, he thought he may have disturbed another hunter? I laughed and asked him what kind of hunter he was? Because the turkey was hanging next to him only a few feet away. I often wonder if he ever pondered that moment.

 

I remember some things Joe would say, and these would not be the only  proof he will live on.

 

Joe’s saying: “What is the matter, is there to much month left at the end of your money?”

 

“Did you trade your skinny payment book in for a thicker one? this was after I had purchased a new truck.

 

His sayings were to make you think, they always left you with the question. One you  had to always go looking for the answer. I remember finding out after my children and his children were long grown, christmas at their house was a treasure hunt, something I would have used had I known.

 

He had spent his life among judges and doctors and the most popular to me my dad.

 

One time Joe took us to one of his jobs, a judges house that had a basement filled  with big game heads, where he performed, what most would call magic, I call hard work that he made look easy.

His ability to take drywall mud and make  a work of art and no two were the same was amazing!

 This is how I know about the judge.

 

He took a fishing/ hunting trip to Canada once with my cousin who was a doctor/ pilot, and my dad. It was a private plane, and I heard he was asked what his thoughts were, as they crossed the great lakes at about 6 thousand feet and he was looking down. His reply” I am not sure, I can not fly and I can not swim.” once again an answer that left you with a question.

 

One of my last hunting trips with  Big Joe, I will tell you about, although I will leave out the last names to protect the innocent. It was  BigJoe, and Little Jeff, Dale, John, Carl, Big Jeff and Beaver. We arrived at their camp just before dark. Carl was setting up the camper, John was cleaning house, and Big Jeff, Dale and Beaver were told, By Big Joe,”Here is some whiskey you all help yourselves.” I recognized it from a oyster roast  we had been to earlier in the year. Big Joe and Carl were going to meet and pickup Little Jeff from the truck stop in Toms Brook.

 

John, Dale, Big Jeff and Beaver  began to partake of the whiskey that was offered, and John had to start out saying “You  boys can’t drink whiskey?” I remember  cold soup, I remember double stuffed oreos, the ones that were left out and the ones that were hidden. I remember Carl saying we were never aloud in his camper again. I remember seeing John reaching into the latrine he said he had dropped his false teeth. I remember Big Joe saying,”Who drank all that whiskey?” And I remember the look on Little Jeff’s face, as to say I should have been here earlier ? I remember the next morning seeing a large buck with big horns and letting him walk, because pulling the trigger on that loud gun was just not going to be worth  the pain. So I am not sure who was saved that trip, although I knew someone was. May have been us all? How long had it taken them to pickup Little Jeff? How long were they gone?

 

Never say; I do not remember . Capture the memory. Every good and perfect gift comes from above.

Memories are not all good and perfect, although knowing how to answer or not it is the perfect gift. Leave them with a treasure hunt, so what they find will be what they are looking for?

 

I believe as Big Joe reached the gates of heaven, He was met by  the questioner , one that their  job is to give you question that may cause doubt that you can come in. It can not be a hard question, although your answer will have to be one that lets them know you are a child of God, a question that Jesus has the answer to.

 

Big Joe, “I do not need to know the last names of all that were present on that hunting trip, I do not need to know who ate the cold soup, I do not even need to know who ate the double stuff Oreos. I need to know, “How long were you gone picking up Little Jeff?

 

Joe’s answer left no doubt, “I can not recall.” as only a child of God could answer.

 

May you rest in peace, I love you. Your nephew and his wife

 

 

 

 

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