As I drove home from work this evening, I listened to Bruce Springsteen sing about good, hard-working, and hopeful people who are struggling to make their way through their daily lives.
It’s what Bruce does better than anyone. “Tramps like us, baby, we were born to run.”
“Glory Days,” the song says. “Yeah, they’ll pass you by…” But, as was evident in my conversations with Joe over the years, the memories remain forever.
He is survived by his daughter Amanda, grandson Carson, his sister Cathi, and brothers Tab and Jay, and hundreds of former Wildcats. It’s tragic and shocking to lose someone so young, because guys my age don’t think it is our time to leave this world just yet. But…
“Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact.”
I am saddened because I think Joe still had a purpose here on Earth, like all of us, but I am also comforted knowing he is in perfect peace, free from the terrible pain that understandably consumed him, for Joe endured more heartache in his 63 years on Earth than anyone I have ever known.
“Down along the river’s silent edge, I soar /
Searching for my beautiful reward.”
…
IT WAS MARCH 1985 and Joe’s wife Sherry was missing. Joe had talked to her in the late afternoon and plans were made to meet a couple who wanted to celebrate that they were pregnant, or so Sherry was told. The husband had known Joe since high school.
Three days later, Sherry’s body was found in a storage unit. Six months later, the husband was convicted of murdering her and sentenced to death. Eighteen years later, after one long appeal after another, Joe watched this man’s execution.
There’s no way the human heart was made to handle something like that.
“I’m waitin’, waitin’ on a sunny day/
Gonna’ chase the clouds away…”
As time moved on, the clouds remained, even when the sun played peek-a-boo with him. There were many spectacular days — while raising his children, laughing with friends, enjoying his family, listening to music, planning for the future, and doing the simplest things of day-to-day life. But the pain…it was always there.
“Everybody’s got a hungry heart.”
Sadly, the worst was yet to come. First, Jakey was paralyzed because of a neurological disorder, and couldn’t run and play like the other children, which didn’t seem fair to Joe, despite Jakey’s beautiful personality. Then, five years ago, Jakey was rushed to an emergency room and died because the medical staff did not do what medical standards required them to do.
"Troubled times had come...to my hometown."
With more grief than he had before, Joe had to again deal with lawyers and the intricacies of the legal system, which he did not like. “It sucks, Kirb,” he’d say, even though the case was successful. “Darkness on the Edge of Town.”
After all that, how does a person keep going?
…
JOE LOVED TWO great men whose help he said he could never repay. One was Father Tom, a priest at a church near his home. The other was Danny Griffith, our mutual friend and teammate who is the pastor at Horizon Pointe at Mission Lane Church in Franklin.
They spoke truth to Joe, in a loving way. We live in a broken world, surrounded by broken people. Out of love, God gives us free will to choose the life we lead, even though some choose evil. Hate does not destroy the object of our anger; instead, it destroys US. Jesus came into this world to give us a glimpse of heaven, even while amid our struggles. And if we humble ourselves to accept His leading, we can live with Him forever in heaven. No one is beyond His grace.
It was hard stuff to grasp, but Joe kept listening. He knew he didn’t always make things easy, but he kept trying. We all need hope.
As it turned out, Father Tom, Bruce, Griff, and God all had the same message for good, hard-working, and hopeful people like Joe. Life is a struggle. It will hit you hard. To recover, don’t look left, right, or down. Instead, keeping looking up.
“Meet me in a land of hopes and dreams…
“This train carries saints and sinners/ This train carries losers and winners/
This train carries whores and gamblers/This train carries lost souls.
“I said this train, dreams will not be thwarted/ This train, faith will be rewarded/
This train, hear the steel wheels singing/ This train, bells of freedom ringing.”
After a long, hard ride, Joe’s train arrived at the station, where the bells of freedom rang, the God of the universe wrapped him in shining light, and and his reunion with loved ones began.
Joe was all smiles, and still is, because he is in no more pain, and lives in perfect harmony with everyone around him. Forever.
Rest in peace, my friend.
