Dear Joe,
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| Photo and sentiment courtesy of Dale Moews |
Though we only rode
together once and then only briefly, I’ve been moved to write to you. I can’t
really explain the motivation for this except that seeing what our mutual
friends are saying about you riding on has struck a chord in my heart and soul.
I try not to question my muse, He knows too much and His plans are too far-reaching
for my limited understanding. One thing I find difficult to understand is why
particular people are taken from us and when and how they are taken. I can only
hope that by my writing this and sharing it with our friends that someone out
there will be touched by it and thereby helped along the road to peace as I
have been touched by your friends’ genuine sentiments they’ve shared about you.
You’ve left quite an impact.
You might notice that
I’m leaving much of this letter about you in the present tense. That is because
that which you were in life on earth lives on in the hearts of those left
behind and so they are still valid and not lost to us.
Yes, you have made
quite an impact on your friends. To them you are ‘bigger than life’, a man of
quiet strength. Your friend Ken Roybal tells me that you commanded respect from
all who knew you. Notice that I said commanded rather than demanded. It is the
person you are which drives the respect, it was never anything you demanded.
Ken attribute a big heart to you and that you ‘never threw people away’ and are
willing to give people two, three, four chances. Translated, that means you are
a person of great patience and hope and of great integrity. Thank you for that.
 |
| Karen and Joe on Route 66 Photo courtesy of Tim Tarbet |
You are a man who
loved a lot of things in life; motorcycles, cars, food, and more importantly,
your kids and friends. Your friend Dale Moews went on to tell me that the thing
you loved most was Karen and that even after sixteen years together you acted
like you were newlyweds. I love hearing that about you; your passion for your
wife and the genuine way you feel about her. That genuineness carried through
to how you care for your friends and the people you’ve just met and how they
feel they’ve known you for years. The way people feel comfortable with you so
quickly speaks volumes about the man you are at heart. Thanks for that.
Our friend Brad
Parrack told me about how you are a kind and thoughtful man and ‘a tower of a
man in deeds, thought, and stature’. He told me of a time that you showed up at
a meet point for a ride only to tell the others that you needed to stay home
with Karen because she was ill. These things speak well of how you built your
life on a foundation of love and how you put that love into action. I believe
that love is a verb and requires action, a belief that we share. Thanks.
Shawn Frausto
called me today. You and Karen made a deep impression on Shawn and Danielle. We
talked a little about what you mean to him and a couple of ‘G’ words came up.
You and your Karen are gracious and gregarious. Gracious in how you opened your
home to them after a long hot ride for them to come visit you. You gave them
water, space, and a place to be refreshed in mind and body. You are gregarious,
you love being around people and they love being around you as well. Shawn told
me of how you and Karen made a long ride on your own to meet up with folks to
celebrate Shawn’s birthday even though you had to miss the group ride and that looms
large in Shawn’s heart. I appreciate what you’ve meant to our friends.
I noticed a photo
of you in a California State Parks uniform. Very sharp. I might be mistaken
about this and I imagine I’ll hear the details of it soon, maybe as a result of
sharing my letter to you. I understand that you had a career in law enforcement
leading up to your Parks service, service being the key word here. From all that
I learned about you from our friends it does not surprise me that you were
called as a public servant. Honest and honorable, gracious and gregarious, respected
and respectful, loving and caring, firm, resolute yet warmhearted. You are a natural at public
service because of all of those qualities. I believe that others have seen the
way you conducted yourself in your career and are better public servants by
your example. This gives me hope for the good guys.
You’ve left us with
quite a legacy and a tough act to follow. Because this is what friends and
family do – we take all the good things we know about the ones we lose, we
remember the excellent examples of how they lived, and we do our best to honor
those memories in how we live and love. And that’s what we’ll do with you,
remember your best and be the better for having known you.
I’ll finish up with
this as a prayer, if you don’t mind, for you, Karen and your kids, and the friends
who are hurting at losing you. This is a couple of stanzas from a song I sung with
a handful of guys early in the morning I started writing this letter. You were fresh on
my heart and mind at the time and the tune rings true for you.
From 10,000
Reasons:
The sun comes up, it’s a
new day dawning;
It’s time to sing Your song
again.
Whatever may pass, and
whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening
comes.
You’re rich in love, and
You’re slow to anger
Your name is great, and
Your heart is kind.
For all Your goodness, I
will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my
heart to find.
And on that day when my
strength is failing,
The end draws near, and my
time has come;
Still my soul will sing
Your praise unending;
Ten thousand years and then
for - - evermore!
Peace my friend,
jerry
