On Joel's last day with us, it was just a typical day. He got up around 7am so he could get back to work putting up drywall in the new addition of our house. About noon we settled down and ate some lunch and dad got ready to go to work at 2pm. My mom and I worked really hard the rest of the day sanding down and taping the rest of the drywall so dad could start on the rest of it the next day. At around 6pm, my dad called and ask if my mom and I could come in and eat supper with him. I asked mom and she said we really needed to keep working on the drywall. My dad started begging me to find a way to get mom to go into town to eat supper with him. I told him I would see what I could do. I talked it over with mom and she said no. I told dad what she said and he once again begged me. Maybe he was trying to tell me something. I don't know. But we didn't go into have supper with him. He told me he had to work until 11pm and would be home shortly after. I told him I loved him and would see him when he got home. Well needless to say that's the last time I ever heard my dad's voice. 

At around 10:30pm, there was a knock at our door. It was the Police Chief and another officer. They had came to tell us that my dad had been shot and killed. I had been practicing my tenor saxophone, playing "I Will Always Love You". That song is one of my favorites because it reminds me that my dad will ALWAYS love me. Some people say that it wasn't his time to go and God knows everyone misses him tremendously. But with all the things that happened leading up to this tragic event. It could only have been that it was Joel's time to be called home. 

Joel's Obituary • Pictures from Washington, DC • My Letter • Pictures of Joel • A Letter from Joel's Niece
Poems, Emails, and Graphics • Links and Other Memorial Sites • Article from 10th Anniversary of Joel's Death