Saturday, January 24, 2026
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I meet Joe in 1982. I was dating his brother Steve.
Steve wrote a letter to his brother (in jail) and sent a photo of me with the letter. When Joe received the letter my photo fell out and his roommate saw that it was a picture of a girl he knew. My parents rented a store to his parents. What a small world we live in.
I first saw him after his release and he had a lot of muscles and was very full of himself. Lol.
We didn’t get along a lot of the time, but the love between the 3 brothers was very clear. His youngest brother David and Joe went around together quite a bit before David’s passing. Joe took that very hard. We all did but I think Joe was most visibly torn. It took him a long time to overcome that hurt.
Through the years Joe and Steve remained very close. Daily phone calls and many visits to our home. Joe even lived with us for almost a year.
Whenever Joe or Steve needed help they would call each other and they were always there for advice or help.
This friendship became huge with his nephew and then his niece.
I remember when I asked him to look after his niece Megan when she was small. It was after school during the week, he was so proud that I trusted him enough to care for her. He took such good care of her. He would play outside with her and she grew to adore him.
His nephew also loved him and their relationship gre after Tyler grew up. Tyler phoned his Uncle Joe and Aunt Maya often keeping in touch. Tyler has a son Felix. Joe just adored him. When Felix was born and Uncle Joe visited he would just beam when he got to hold him or play with him.
Steve and I would visit as often as we were able to through the years and they did the same. Joe and Steve were like best friends not just brothers. They loved each other so much. We were all a great team together. We would go places like the Christmas village or even the jail in Kingston together. We always had a great time. And the card games, it was always the women against the men. Usually we kicked their butts, but our last games the guys won. They will always be declared the champions to us.
Joe and Steve went on a many fishing trips together. Of course Joe would keep the fish and bring them back to Maya to cook. I am allergic to fish and Steve did not like fish at all. He was a catch and release person.
When we lost Steve, Joe and Maya were one of the last people to visit him. Steve treasured that visit.
After Steve was gone we still kept in touch. Visiting and through phone calls.
We all (Tyler, Megan and myself) had the opportunity to say our good-byes which we will treasure.
I will definitely miss you Joe. Good-bye.
Now the 3 brothers are finally together again. Don’t get kicked out of heaven boys.
