George Thomas Joseph
GEORGE THOMAS JOSEPH, SR.
July 15, 1926 - October 14, 2014
Wheeling, WV - Holly, MI
MARIE ANTOINETTE "TONI" FARAH JOSEPH
June 25, 1923 - January 7, 2008
Detroit, MI - Holly, MI
George Thomas Joseph was the sixth son of Doumit and Victoria. Among the brothers, George was the one to see the most combat in World War II, mostly in the Pacific. After the war, he wed Marie Antoinette Farah, affectionately known as Toni on June 5, 1948. They took producing off-spring very seriously. From 1949 thru 1962, they had eleven children over that thirteen year period. In 1959, they moved to Stockton, California only to return to Detroit in 1963. Uncle George led the Family Band that had many appearances across Michigan and California. Aunt Toni sewed all of the costumes for the troupe. Uncle George was a bit of a daredevil when it came to his job. A photo exists of him climbing the light tower of the Penobscot Building in downtown Detroit. He once confided the secret to working that high in the air (665 feet) is not look down.
To say that Aunt Toni was a saint was an understatement. She had thirteen pregnancies in thirteen years and once kidded that she never saw her feet from the time she was married until her 39th birthday. Her sisters-in-law chided her that after raising eleven children, she could commit two murders and still get into heaven.
In her eulogy, I wrote a poem for Aunt Toni entitled PLATE SPINNER
PLATE SPINNER
That sacrifice was her daily bread
and selfless thoughts gave bliss to her days.
No complaints.
For they would never be heard
above the din of a burgeoning brood
That she gave her vital years to maternity
and to nourishing the multiplying lives.
What abundance of love must she possess
to divide it into double digits…
A mother’s balancing act
like the side-show plate spinner.
Each child in perpetual motion
never lacking attention or losing traction.
And her,
gentle and unfrenzied with focused grace
steadying each stake
sustaining a family…
That she taught us to be self-sacrificing
to live faithfully
to laugh boisterously
and the joy we learned
from her sweet touch
will follow us like a shadow
that never leaves…
George Thomas Joseph Jr.
I wrote this elegy to my cousin George T. Joseph Jr. who passed away on December 18, 2017. He was affectionately called "Five" by his siblings based on his birth order among the eleven siblings. Kind in heart and generous in spirit, his is an unfillable hole in the life of our family. "Allah et hummu" Georgie.
I SEE STARS...STAY CALM
(for George Thomas Joseph, Jr.)
He won every battle for at least a dozen years or more.
Some were skirmishes…others like marines scaling Iwo Jima.
Yet at the end of each mêlée, he planted His flag
and the malignant enemy would retreat…
but not surrender.
That he would be kind and selfless in the face of such combat
only elevated our admiration…our disbelief in his belief.
Digging wells for the impoverished
gospeling the imprisoned
testifying to His truth
drove his humanity – fueled his munificent soul -
and put a face on his Savior.
Number five of eleven centered him in familial stature.
but he was the pick of the litter, his brother (and all) would say.
When his foe returned, armed this time in a dark cloak,
he turned, as always, to the trusted Word.
Though his earthly vessel was losing steam – not style –
he would kneel in prayer for those of us who loved him.
He wanted his burden not to encumber
What he would mourn was his physical lack to simple life pleasures…
a glass of red wine with Diane
the whoosh of a rake thru the autumnal leaves
the smell of the upturned garden earth.
On a pre-Christmas morning,
his last words would etch his epitaph.
With heaven becoming real,
his paradise prediction came in the absolute poetry
of his final turn of phrase
“I see stars – stay calm”.
With that, he entered His glory.
With that, he became part of the lexicon of
a family he adored
a family he endured
a family made sacred by his life.