Gary Giles

Joe Donald and I were backyard neighbors throughout our childhoods.  He had an older brother, Wayne, who we followed at all things, it seemed at the time.  I left after high school and didn't see or hear from Joe Donald until years later when my father passed away and who should come to his funeral but Joe Donald.  He had been a  barber, fire fighter, and was at least that night a philosopher, we spent hours talking and catching up.  I got the sense then that he was something of a loner and now he has died in a house fire.  I can only hope he went in his sleep and never knew what was happening to him.

Rodney Smith