Tribute

On Tuesday, June 27, our dear Joe woke up to a stunning sunrise, completed his usual morning routine and punctually left for work to lead his regular 7:30 team call.  After his meeting, feeling unwell, he returned safely home but, within minutes and with his beloved family heroically trying to keep him here, he left us permanently.  We are broken by his early departure from our lives but we are trying to find comfort in the memories he left behind.

Growing up, Joe was the goofy bright light in our lives, making us smile with his random karate chop kicks, cartoon walk imitations and numerous sketches of Tarzan and the famous Superman “S”.  However, one particularly misplaced karate kick lopped the blossoms off Mom’s cherished begonia plant and our superhero ran for safety.  Mom forgave him and the misdeed became a favourite memory later, much later.  Childhood antics also included attempts at flying, walking on homemade stilts, root beer drinking contests, skating on bumpy ice at Grants Lake and experiments with the infamous chemistry set.

Joe arrived with his family in Canada on a snowy January day in 1969 not speaking a word of English.  Attending A.B. Greenwell, Stanley Gordon and Lake Cowichan Secondary, Joe made many friends as he graduated from play forts to a passion for golf with his buddies (especially Jas).  Schoolwork was important but golf was a priority on weekends.  Joe channeled Clark Kent with his famous black rimmed glasses and transformed into Superman with mom’s faded red table cloth and a painstakingly Brylcreemed Superman curl.  In early life, Joe’s hair was long and styled in the traditional manner and he was picky about which ribbon was used to secure his top knot.

Joe’s first jobs during high school were manually setting bowling pins and maintenance with the municipality where he dug ditches and tarred rooftops.

Joe started his post-secondary studies at Malaspina College in Nanaimo.  He lived in Nanaimo during the week and drove back to Lake Cowichan every Friday night in time for the graveyard shift at the Youbou Sawmill.

Joe moved to SFU to study Business Administration.  There, in 1983, he met a girl he described as resembling the actress Kristy McNichol. This lovely girl was named Dawn Marie Arnold. After an intriguing courtship, Joe and Dawn married in April 1994, with Jas Sanghera as his best man.

During this period Joe began a lifelong career at Squirrel Systems, moving up from tester/debugger to Director of Software Development.  He was our family’s “tech geek” before this was even a popular term.  He worked hard to remain at the cutting edge of his industry and lead with vision.  Passionate about his profession, he recently returned from a conference in Seattle excited by everything from the Cloud to Artificial Intelligence.

However, without doubt, Joe’s daughter Leah and son Eric were his ultimate pride and joy.  He never missed a chance to provide a proud update of Eric’s educational progress or Leah’s latest exams and classes, or how hard Dawn was working at her new job.  He was looking forward to Leah’s pending graduation from SFU later this year.

Before Joe became a responsible parent, he was Uncle Joe to many nephews (Darcy, Justin, Rikki, Karnal, Andy, Arjun and Jesse) and nieces (Sunita, Selena, Anjuli and Mina) who enjoyed his energy and generosity and goofy sense of humour. He liked to draw muscle-bound bunnies and make origami frogs that you could inflate.

Joe, in his time at Squirrel, left a legacy of hard work, leadership and innovation.  He positively impacted the lives and careers of many of his colleagues.  In his neighbourhood, Joe is remembered as the consummate car detailer and for his regimented evening walking routine, offering a familiar friendly face, smiles and chit chat as he passed by.  At home he kept busy with ensuring his family’s home was in good order, justifying numerous trips to Home Depot.

Joe is predeceased by his father and survived by his mother, his wife Dawn, son Eric, daughter Leah (Zack), brother Dalbir (Surinder), sisters Tirtho Rai (Makhan), Kashmiro Cheema (Tarsame), Manjit Bains (Allan) and many cousins, aunts and uncles and precious grand-nephews and a grand-niece.

Joe, our hearts are heavy with grief, but memories of your quirky sense of humour, trademark smile and quiet brilliance will provide us with comfort when we miss you the most.  There were so many conversations to be had, so many milestones to be reached and so much more to be shared.  Your name and face are forever in our hearts and we will continue to include you in our lives with the love and tenderness you deserve.  We pledge to support and love your family as we know you would do for ours.

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(In addition to the service in Duncan, Joe’s family will be organizing a memorial service on the lower mainland in the coming weeks)