Joseph Peter Hubert

Joseph Peter Hubert, Jr. passed away after a short illness on October 13, 2017 in Duluth. Joe was born in Duluth on July 3, 1931 and graduated from Central High School in the class of 1949. After his high school graduation, he enlisted in the United States Army and was trained as a paratrooper. Joe was transferred into the 5th Regimental Combat Team while serving in Korea. His entire life he was very grateful to President Eisenhower for establishing a truce for the Korean conflict, as his team had been surrounded on Christmas Hill. Word of the truce allowed him and his fellow Americans to walk off Christmas Hill, and eventually leave Korea.

Once back in the States, Joe attended the University of Minnesota, Duluth on the GI Bill to become a certified professional geologist. He spent his early career with the Utah Construction Company where he mapped the Mojave Desert for mineral deposits with his yellow Labrador, Buck, by his side. In the 1960’s he ventured out to discover multiple uranium deposits in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. In 1965, Joe and two partners formed Mountain West Mines, which in 1972 became his company, Excalibur.

Joe had a lifelong passion for training yellow Labradors for field trials. His first dog was Buck, who his father bought for him with his “last buck”. Joe was just a teenager when he was training Buck, and this dog took him to the National Field Trial Championships, becoming a National Field Trial Champion. After Buck, Joe energetically ran many more dogs in field trials.

In the 1970’s Joe became involved in the sport of fly-fishing, but his love was only for fishing the Atlantic Salmon. For years, he traveled to Iceland to fish for Atlantic Salmon, eventually writing the definitive book on Atlantic Salmon fishing entitled Salmon-Salmon. In addition to fishing, Joe was an avid bird hunter, and for many seasons maintained a camp in Manitoba, Canada.

Joe was a life-long Chicago Cubs’ fan, after attending a Cub’s game at Wrigley Field as a teenager. As a fan, he became acquainted with Ernie Banks, and when Ted Williams went fishing with him in Iceland, Joe greeted Ted Williams by extending his left hand instead of his right because Ernie Banks had shaken his right hand. Joe was one of the lucky Cubs’ fans who celebrated their 2016 World Series Championship.

Joe was an avid golfer, and for years was a member of Jupiter Hills Club in Tequesta, Florida and Northland Country Club in Duluth. Other memberships include Glen Avon Masonic Lodge, York Rite, the AAD Temple Shrine, and the Kitchi Gammi Club all in Duluth. Joe also considered himself a world champion cribbage player, and enjoyed cooking treats for anyone who came by for a visit.

His fly rods and shotguns lay quietly where he last put them, but in the quiet of this fall, possibly in a duck or goose blind, his family and friends will be thinking of him and past hunts. After all, it’s in that quiet that we remember our friend the best.

Joe is preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Alma (Peterson) Hubert, his sisters Wanda Benson and Marguerite Emanuel, his brothers-in-law Earl Benson and Robert A. Anderson, and his many yellow Labrador companions.

He is survived by his sister and brother-in-law Jeanne and Robert Sederberg (Duluth) and Elizabeth Anderson (Boca Raton, Florida). Joe is also survived by many nieces and nephews who dearly loved him.

Visitation: 10:30 until the 11:00 a.m. Funeral Service Thursday, October 19, 2017 at St. Paul Episcopal Church, 1710 E Superior Street, Duluth. Interment will be in Forest Hill Cemetery. Memorials may be made in his name to “the Duluth Retriever Club”, P.O. Box 3074, Duluth. Please leave a memory of Joseph or words of support for the family at www.bellbrothersjarvidowd.com .