FOWELLS, Joseph Edward, Sr. *

Copper Country News, Globe, AZ Wednesday, Apr 27th, 2011 Joseph Edward Fowells Sr. Dad made it to 101 years and 11 days. It was a good run. He was born April 3, 1910 in a tar-paper shack near the Celilo Falls on the Columbia River, where his father was working on the Celilo Locks to tame the Columbia River. His father had arranged to use a railroad hand truck to take them to the hospital in Portland. However, he developed smallpox and spent Dad’s birth in the “Pest House” where everyone was sent if they had smallpox. Dad was delivered by neighbor ladies. I asked if he remembered his first toy. He replied, “It was probably a sardine can. They made good cars, trains, boats, just about anything.” He grew up in and around Portland. He graduated from Hillsboro High School the spring of 1928, just in time for the Great Depression. He worked for the CCC’s for a time and was the sole support for his mother, father, sister, and younger brother. $30/month. He got to keep $5 and the rest was sent to his parents. His sister said that they really looked forward to the first of the month. The last two or three days of the month they subsisted on stewed tomatoes. He attended and graduated from Oregon State University and got his Masters in Geology from the Montana School of Mines. During WWII he applied to the US Navy officer program. They told him “to go away. We can make all the officers we want but we don’t have the time to make geologists. You’re more important to us looking for minerals.” He chased one young lady for years but married her sister in 1945. After I was born (my brother followed a bit over two years later), Mom told Dad he was a father now and needed to get a job! We moved from Klamath Falls, Oregon to Miami, Arizona where he worked for the Miami Copper Company and it’s follow-ons as an exploration geologist until he retired in 1975. He loved Mexico (until the last few years) and would go there as often as he could. Actually, he just enjoyed travel. Until her death, Mom and Dad would spend a good portion of the year near Mom’s family farm in NE Montana and then back to Arizona for the winter. After Mom’s death in 1996, he continued to live in his home in Arizona and to travel until 2008, when he moved to the Pioneer Manor in Plentywood, Montana. He always loved to read and was reading the Wall Street Journal with the help of his reading machine until he developed pneumonia this last February. He beat that, but after that, well ... He moved to La Casa, an assisted care facility, but his energy never came back and his interests just shrunk. I think his final goal was to make 101. Dad very seldom bragged on himself but he did on making his 101st year. About 4:30 p.m. last Saturday we took Kitty, his cat, for a visit, but Dad was sleeping, just curled up on his side. We put Kitty close to Dad and he blinked his eyes when she yowled but then Dad settled right back. At 7:15 p.m. my phone rang. He had been gone for at least an hour. When we got there he was just as we left him, curled up, taking a nap. Just waiting for one of his sons to shake his shoulder and say, “Dad, it’s time to wake up”. Then he’d look up and say, “Hi, Son.” But it’ll never happen again. Rest well, Dad. We’ll always miss you. Joseph Edward Fowells, Sr. was born on April 3, 1910. He was preceded in death by virtually everyone in his generation, those generations before, his wife of 50 years, Mary, and a grandson, Scott Robert. He is survived by his baby brother, Bob. Joe is also survived by his sons, Jody, Frank, and Frank’s wife, Mary Anne; Jody’s daughter, Kirsten, and her daughter, Kira; Frank’s children, Jody, Christopher, and Leslie, and their mother, Marilyn; and Frank’s seven grandchildren, Mitchell, Gwendelynn, Jacqueline, Arlo, River, Asher, and Logan. And many nieces, nephews, and once and twice and thrice removed cousins. Joseph passed away on Saturday evening, April 16, 2011 at La Casa in Plentywood, Montana. At Joe’s request he was cremated and had previously said he did not want any funeral or memorial services. Any memorial gifts may be given to The Montana Pioneer Manor in Plentywood, Montana or to the charity of your choice.