Thank you to all who attended Joe's funeral on Friday. It was certainly a humbling experience to be amongst all those who loved and cared for him.
I learned many things about Joe listening to the stories of his life;
I for one was unaware that he spent many years helping people from Cambodia and Vietnam to integrate into a new life.
I learned that he had a very tight knit family, but most of us were aware of that. I learned that there was immense respect for him from many, both within and outside the family he loved so much.
I learned that Joe was the structure of the family, the one that kept them who they are. That the person he was, showed what it meant to really and truly care about people.
Peter Degerholm talked about the deep faith Joe had that allowed him to focus on the really important things about life. First came his faith and then Service to others following a very close second. And how in 2006 Joe found out Te Omanga Hospice needed painting but they did not have the funds to cover this so he did it for free. Joe was recognised with an Award by Rotary International for this.
Loren, his eldest granddaughter spoke about how her Papa had strong work ethics and values and often quoted " Always do right by your team, your clients and your family".
It was amazing to hear that in his year as President of Eastern Hutt Rotary the motto for that year was "Act with Integrity, Serve with Love and Aim for Peace". To my mind that is a motto that should be an every year one not a mere 12 months. From all we heard it appears Joe used that motto in everything he did.
What caused me to reach for my pen was the opening statement from his son Raymond when he said "Dad always said "People do business with People". That is a huge lesson to us all here at Rotary. Business does not only apply to the exchange of money for a job done but to the service we give daily. As Rotarians we do our business "people to people" and I like to think Joe had included Rotary in that statement.
There were many statements eluding to his Service and we all heard them. One of his family remarked "it was hard to feel a total sense of loss when you were able to see just what Joe had left behind". This truly resonated with me that this quiet humble man had probably no idea just how he impacted so many around him.
It is important that we remember we are a family here in this room and it is important we give thought to Joe in however we see fit to do so. This time is yours now to share your own memories.
Several members expressed their thoughts and memories of Joe:
James met his wife Robyn through Joe as she lived behind Joe and Luisa;
Joe inducted James into rotary;
Mike Fackney had connections with Joe as a painter when he painted many schools in the Hutt Valley;
David Gledhill commissioned Joe to paint his house 3 times over the years;
Judy and her late husband Mike commissioned Joe to paint 2 of their houses;
Mike followed Joe as president and worked closely together;
John Cole related when Joe arranged a very enjoyable past president evening. It was a very enjoyable evening;
Robin Aitken enjoyed bringing Joe to rotary each week when he and Luisa moved to Bob Scott. Robin related several funny incidents.