Looking through old photos of Joe and his grandchildren.  

I met Joe whilst I was over working in Atlanta for several years.  I visited Joe and Pat many times over the years in Stockbridge and had many good times at their house.  Joe told me many stories about his construction projects and the interesting life he had traveling and working at places all over the USA.  He was also very interested in steam railway and mining and new much about the history of these in the UK also.  Later after I returned to England with Erin Joe and Pat visited us several times, traveling around England and also to Ireland and Scotland.  He loved the history and managed to spend two full days in the Nation Railway Museum in York, Pat escaped for the second day!  We had many good times during the visits and I will miss him.  

When Mom and Joe got married, I was already in college and away from home.   He had been a construction engineer with Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company, but in settling down with Mom, he worked as a project superintendent with several construction companies in Atlanta.   The North Cargo Building at Atlanta Airport, the IBM Building in Atlanta,  the Georgia State University Law Library, and many of the cell phone towers around Atlanta are some of his projects, just to name a few.

I never really got to know Joe well until much later on.  I knew that he loved Mom dearly and treated her like a queen, so he was OK with me.  After Mom died, I would go down to visit with Joe once a week or so for a little while, just to check up on him.  It was during these visits that Joe would tell me all about many of the construction projects he was involved in throughout his life.  It was during those visits that I began to appreciate what a keen technical mind he had.   Joe did not like long visits, so when he felt he had enough visitation, he would say "Well, that's all I got" and you would know it was time to leave.

About five years ago, Joe's peripheral neuropathy got much worse and he could no longer drive.  I began driving him to many of his medical appointments  and as we drove through Atlanta, he would point out many of his construction projects and cell phone towers that he built.  We enjoyed our trips together and the conversations we had along the way.  

I will miss you Joe.  That's about all I got.




One of my first memories of Joe was I when I was 7 years old.  He came over to visit Mom and I was about 25 feet up a pine tree in our back yard climbing.  Joe says he remembers me yelling – Hey Joe.  He said he looked and looked then finally spotted me up that tree.  Other fond memories are our honeymoons.  I went to Jekyll Island with Mom and Joe for a week after they got married.  Joe and Mom went to St George Island for a week with Rob and I after we got married and had a great time.   I also have lovely memories of Mom and Joe’s travels with Rob and I to England, Scotland and Ireland. 

Joe was a good man.   He was a wonderful husband and a good stepfather.   He loved steam trains and any form of mining and the industrial revolution and bluegrass.  He was partial to southern cooking especially from Mom.  He loved his home.  He loved me.  I loved him. I am glad that he is up in heaven with Mom.

Joe grew up around the railroads and freight yards of New Jersey.  As a boy he developed a lifelong passion for and a keen interest in trains, railroad history and the steam locomotive.  In his memory, I share this bluegrass  song, Life is Like a Mountain Railroad. When I think of it, it reminds me of Joe:
                          
Life is like a mountain railroad, with an engineer so brave,
You must make the run successful, from the cradle to the grave,
Watch the curves, the fills the tunnels, never falter, never fail,
Keep your hand upon the throttle, and your eye upon the rail.

Blessed Savior, thou wilt guide us, 'til we reach that blissful shore,
Where the angels, wait to join us, in God's grace forevermore.

As you roll across the trestle, spanning Jordan's swelling tide,
You will behold the union depot, into which your train will glide,
There you will meet the superintendent, God the Father, God the son,
And with hearty joyous lauding, weary pilgrim welcome home.

Refrain



OBITUARY

Joseph S. Carrion Jr.

10 November, 1932 – 11 November, 2020

Horis A. Ward - Fairview Chapel

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