12 January 2017: Joe was my “Other brother”. We first met when we were around 5 or 6. We had our First Communion together at Holy Rosary Church and over the years, we shared in various adventures (and misadventures) in school. By the end of high school, we were best friends. After we graduated, I had the honor of being best man at his and Danya’s (EHS class of ’68) wedding, just before he went off to Vietnam. When he was discharged from the Army three years later, he and Danya were stationed in Georgia and had just had their first child. While Danya and their infant daughter flew back to Washington, I skipped classes for a week and flew to Georgia so Joe and I could drive their VW Beetle cross country to their new residence in Edmonds (another adventure I will never forget!).
As time went on, we kept in touch no matter where Amy and I were stationed. Fortunately, we were retired and living only one state away when we got the news that Joe was terminal with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. We got to visit several times while he bravely fought this disease over the next two and half years, our last visit being a few weeks before his passing, one year ago, today.
There is a saying that goes something like “You may not remember what someone does to you and you may not remember what someone does for you, but you will always remember how someone makes you feel.” It always seemed to me that whether you were meeting Joe for the first time, had known him for a few years, or knew him for practically all your life, he always had a way of making you feel welcome, of making you feel included and making you feel like you belonged there talking with him at that moment in time. And as I think back on all the adventures and misadventures that we had together as children and as young adults, I think the thing that stands out, that which was truly Joe, was the feeling of goodness you got when you were around him. He is missed.
Thank you for posting that Terry, fits Joe (Blair) to a "T" .... he was a truly remarkable human being and truly missed. He and Danya were the perfect fit, too....just as caring, present in the moment, giving, loving and funny! Gayle Armistead Thorne
Terrance (Terry) Van Parys
12 January 2017: Joe was my “Other brother”. We first met when we were around 5 or 6. We had our First Communion together at Holy Rosary Church and over the years, we shared in various adventures (and misadventures) in school. By the end of high school, we were best friends. After we graduated, I had the honor of being best man at his and Danya’s (EHS class of ’68) wedding, just before he went off to Vietnam. When he was discharged from the Army three years later, he and Danya were stationed in Georgia and had just had their first child. While Danya and their infant daughter flew back to Washington, I skipped classes for a week and flew to Georgia so Joe and I could drive their VW Beetle cross country to their new residence in Edmonds (another adventure I will never forget!).
As time went on, we kept in touch no matter where Amy and I were stationed. Fortunately, we were retired and living only one state away when we got the news that Joe was terminal with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. We got to visit several times while he bravely fought this disease over the next two and half years, our last visit being a few weeks before his passing, one year ago, today.
There is a saying that goes something like “You may not remember what someone does to you and you may not remember what someone does for you, but you will always remember how someone makes you feel.” It always seemed to me that whether you were meeting Joe for the first time, had known him for a few years, or knew him for practically all your life, he always had a way of making you feel welcome, of making you feel included and making you feel like you belonged there talking with him at that moment in time. And as I think back on all the adventures and misadventures that we had together as children and as young adults, I think the thing that stands out, that which was truly Joe, was the feeling of goodness you got when you were around him. He is missed.
- Terry Van Parys
Gayle L Armistead (Thorne)
Thank you for posting that Terry, fits Joe (Blair) to a "T" .... he was a truly remarkable human being and truly missed. He and Danya were the perfect fit, too....just as caring, present in the moment, giving, loving and funny! Gayle Armistead Thorne