Over the course of Joe's 62 years with us, every person whose life he has touched knows the wonder and joy that is Joe. He has been a deeply grateful son to his loving father Bobby, who preceded him in passing - a worshipful son to his beautiful mother Trixie - a mischievous big brother to his younger brother Danny, a loving adult ear to his older brother Dennis.
On paper, Joe's dedication to righting wrongs and correcting injustice might be summed up as Social Work. While this would be accurate, feel free to ask any of his past coworkers and peers about what the job really meant to him. Passion for caring: from AIDS Services Austin to the founding of the Texas Health Action program that would become KIND Clinic - from the direct work with his clients to the fact that he has been so instrumental as to be recognized as an "Unsung Hero" (while all of us know his heroism). He demanded that those whose needs were not being met deserved to not only be seen, but be cared for. His was not a corporate approach to social care. Joe saw individuals and treated people as persons worthy of respect. Joe had an approach to life that his partner, Arvis Dawson, called very simply "Joe-Rules." If reality presented an option that was not acceptable to Joe's sense of justice and morality, then that option was also (very simply) not the structure of reality, and Joe would make it right according to what it "should" be.
Joe retired from his Executive Director position at KIND in 2018, in partnership with many like-minded peers having built an institution that provided healthcare resources to underprivileged, underserved, and most importantly to Joe, wholly deserving human beings.
Joe was a complex, beautiful, silly, sexy, clever, brilliant extrovert. Through every hardship he encountered, through every emotional downturn, we would hear his laughter, see his smile, feel his love. He could love just as authentically from the middle of pain as he could from the heights of joy.
A gorgeous man, inside and out, his physical presence will be missed. But the force that was Joe Edward McAdams will not simply "go away." When a person makes the breadth and depth and kind of impact that Joe made upon this world, that person indisputably lives on in some way.
In many ways, we all know the exact same Joe, because Joe was as open with his emotion as it may be possible to be. He gave of his energy because he always had a little more love to share regardless of the amount already doled out. However, we each also have a personal piece of this man that we love. Share that piece with someone. See how present Joe is in that moment.
Joe is survived by his mother, Trixie Dee McAdams; his partner, Arvis Dawson; brothers, Dennis McAdams and wife Debra, Danny McAdams and wife Cindy; nephews Michael McAdams, James McAdams, Joe McAdams, and Mason McAdams; and his heart in the form of a dog, Violet Gypsy Rose Lee McAdams.
Joe Edward McAdams left his body on the 12th of September 2024. Welcome to the next step, Joe.
Joe's life will be celebrated at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 in the Cook-Walden/Capital Parks Funeral Home & Cemetery, 14501 North IH-35, Pflugerville, Texas 78660.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Joe's name to the Hospice Austin's Christopher House.
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