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Linda I Foster uploaded photo(s)
Friday, January 21, 2022
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This tribute comes from Ken Williams, Joe's former coworker at the Department of Fish and Game:
I am a retired district fish biologist who worked under four bosses over my career, all of whom I call friends. I'll put Joe at the top of that list, however, because he did everything in his power to enable me to be the best biologist I could be. He believed in me and supported me in every possible way. This support was especially so when I undertook an unsanctioned research project with Jim Mullen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Joe not only supported that work from afar, but he also often came to the field and became part of the team doing the field work. When I needed to take time off to write up my portion of the opus, Joe shielded me from much of my mundane duties and all of the drivel coming from Olympia for the better part of a year. It was the best and most important work of my career, and Joe was as much a part of its success as me.
Joe and I were both old school and loved the agency when it was known as the Game Department. In that day there were still some of the iconic founders in the agency, who were a joy to talk with and learn from. The agency was apolitical and woke-less in those days and did not have all of the funny money with strings attached. We were lean and mean and everything we did needed to have a good return on investment. The lake rehab was the fish program that yielded the best bang for the buck, and Joe was an absolute zealot for maintaining that program to sustain great fishing for so many anglers. He even managed the miracle of acquiring an ultra-expensive airboat to help us treat shallows where outboard motors could not go.
I especially admired Joe's steady demeanor no matter the circumstances he faced. Even better, he never sought self-aggrandizement. In fact, I didn't know he had a master's degree until I read his obituary. He had exceptional writing and editing skills, which improved many of my reports.
We both loved the alpine lakes and mountains found in the Sawtooth and Pasayten wildernesses, and every summer for several years Joe would accompany me on one of my high lake surveys. Oh, the memories I have of Joe and me in those glorious times and places.
Joe helped me with a bull trout population study I conducted on the Lost River, a remote, rugged system unsuited for wimps. But there was Joe strapping on his backpack and humping down Drake Creek and crawling through two miles of blowdowns before reaching the river and one of the most gorgeous canyons in the world. The work was exhausting, frigid, and even dangerous, but setting around a campfire in the dark comparing the day's events was priceless.
The only unfortunate side of Joe was that he was a Cougar and I a Dawg. Obviously, these two creatures cannot co-exist, but Joe took those Apple Cup beatings with such class that I was proud to enshrine him as an honorary Dawg.
Near the end of my career, Joe, Jeff Korth, and I took a ten-day trip into the wilds of Alaska to hunt caribou. We had a blast, but the brass in Oly charged Joe with the unpardonable sin of leaving without a single fish biologist left in the Regional office. Joe never divulged the number of lashes he took, but I'm sure he let it all roll off of his back, for he always had his priorities in order.
My young son saw a lot of Joe growing up and was deeply saddened to learn of his passing. He told me to come over to his place in Monroe, and we would go down to Joe's memorial together.
I could write a book on all of the great interactions I've enjoyed with Joe, but I'll close with these words to Joe himself. I have so many wonderful memories over my career, and you are in most of them, which is why I count you not only a cherished friend but an unforgettable one. Don't think this is the end between you and me, for we are believers in Christ. Christians don't die, we just sleep until He returns and awakens His people to a glory that human minds cannot fathom. I'll be looking for you Joe.
Ken Williams
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David Mudd posted a condolence
Thursday, January 6, 2022
So sorry to hear of Joe's passing. I first met Joe at WSU in 1971 when he was working on his Master's and was the T.A. in my Ornithology and Mammalogy classes. Joe was friendly to us undergrad students and well-liked by all. I remember we were taking a skull identification test in Mammalogy and I was puzzling over one of the skulls. As I jotted down an answer, I noticed Joe was standing next to me. I looked up at him and he subtly shook his head that I had guessed wrong. I erased that answer and tried again - I don't remember if I got it right the second time or not.
Joe was instrumental in helping me get my start with the Dept of Game in 1974. I had returned from the Peace Corps and was seeking employment in the wildlife field without much success. I saw that Ken Kilgore was hiring an assistant on the Colockum Wildlife Area and drove over to talk to him. Turned out he was looking for a heavy equipment operator to grade the roads and I was not a fit for that. On a whim, I drove down to Ephrata to make contact with Joe since he was the only person I knew that worked for the department. Joe said he didn't have any positions, but he had heard that Wendell Oliver had a small amount of funding to hire someone to study the wildlife impacts of a small dam on the Touchet River. He said Wendell was coming to Ephrata for a meeting later that day, I could hang around and wait for him if I liked. I said, "Ok, I'm hanging." When Wendell arrived I gave him a rough draft of my resume with line-outs and additions scribbled in because I had left the original typed copy with Kilgore. Wendell was looking for a biologist to study the riparian (riverbank) habitat along the river and my resume happened to contain the word riparian because I had assisted another grad student in studying the riparian habitat along the Snake River before Lower Granite Dam inundated it. Thanks to Joe and my resume containing the word riparian I enjoyed a 32 year career at Washington Fish and Wildlife. Who knows what type of career I would have had without Joe! David Mudd
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Patrick Miller posted a condolence
Thursday, January 6, 2022
I worked for Joe when he was in charge of a mitigation project in the Columbia Basin along with Woody Myers, Dale Swedberg and Gene Tillet. Great guy, sorry to hear of his passing.
Pat Miller
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Jon. Anderson uploaded photo(s)
Thursday, January 6, 2022
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I was fortunate to have met and worked with Joe toward the end of his WDFW career, and to have spent quality time with him in Deer Camp with Jeff Korth and other Region 2 Fish Folks. I enjoyed sharing a wee dram with him, and admired his character. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
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