It's been a strange 10 days since I posted last. My beloved brother-in-law, Joel (Jay's younger brother) passed away from liver disease. He's known for about 5 years that he needed a liver transplant and the day just didn't arrive fast enough and we lost him. He was the kindest soul...always smiling...trying to make us laugh. Joel loved his wife Tracey dearly and he was a "champion" to our two daughters. He was always telling them that if they had trouble with a boyfriend to call Uncle Joel...and that he'd "straighten him out"..LOL! He delivered ice sculptures for us. He used to talk about our "family" business...that I sold the ice, Jay carved it and he delivered it...a three-legged stool. What are we ever going to do without him? He had all but retired from his driving chores, but he was still hard at work making all of us laugh. It's hard to believe that such a joyful force has gone out of the world.
I'm posting a couple of pictures of him... One with his wife Tracey (with the long hair), my sister Nancy....and Joel in his favorite chicken hat! It sums him up in one photograph...loving, laughing and wearing a chicken hat. That was Joel!! The other picture shows Joel with his arms around Tracey and I. It occurred to me as I was looking for a photo of him for the newspaper that I don't have a single picture of him by himself. He always had his arm around someone. That was Joel too.....
We will miss him dearly.
Joel Maclaskey - 1960-2007
