In Memory, Joseph Harris Whitesell

We buried my Uncle Joe on Thursday in a cemetery behind a small country church in Bethel Valley. The cancer he had fought against for so long finally won.  Our family gathered at the graveside to say goodbye. Twelve of the 16 cousins stood beside the coffin as did Joe’s long estranged daughter, Angela.  We will miss his stories, his laughter and his guidance. With love to you Uncle Joe….

Joseph Harris Whitesell was born in Staunton, VA on August 11, 1934.  He was the 4th of 7 children, the second brother to my mother.  He was raised on a farm and grew up under the strict hand of my grandparents, doing farm chores and going to school. It was not an easy life.  He graduated from high school but never went to college.  He was young, good looking and restless.  A rebel without a cause.

He kicked around the Army for a bit then took a job at a GE factory in Staunton.  He married the lovely Miss Thelma Ramsey, from Ramsey Draft, VA and had a daughter, Angela. But he had a demon that owned his soul, alcohol.  Twice GE sent him through rehabilitation and twice he failed. Finally he lost his wife, his daughter and his job.

It is said that my grandmother would drive the country roads after dark and look for Joe. On a number of occasions, she pulled him out of a ditch and took him home to sober up. She never gave up on him and lived long enough to see him fight for sobriety and be rehired at GE, from where he proudly retired.

Joe never remarried.  He was a ladies man and had some memorable romances through the years.  Some of the ladies the family met (and became attached to), some we didn’t.  When he died, one of my cousins found a stack of photos of Joe’s ladies labeled, “The Ladies Club”.

He respected the ladies he dated and maintained contact with many of them, helping with finances or family. It is a testament to him that his most recent and previous lady friends sat crying at the funeral, arms around each other for comfort.

Joe was an accomplished ballroom dancer, an avid gardener (in the country that is vegetable gardening) and bird hunter. His brown sugar cured country ham was legendary in Augusta county. He loved his family and stepped in as father/grandfather to brother Tom’s children when Tom passed away.  He drove up and down the highway between TN and VA during my mother’s last years.  She called out for him during her last days, I understand he called out to her during his…

Rest in peace Uncle Joe.