Joseph Vincent Despres

Joseph Vincent Despres passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of February 21, 2016. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, with whom he married over twenty three years ago on December 31, 1992… for tax purposes, of course. They shared a love for different ethnic cuisine and also worked together, where they met at Nortel. He often times swore to bachelorhood, but she relentlessly worked him over until he finally gave in. Together they had two girls, Gabrielle, 21 and Victoria, 17. Both graduated from his own personal hoosegow (AKA their playpen) to become fine young women. Although, Joe may say, “the jury is still out on that one”, he often talked behind their backs about how proud he was of his daughters. Joe was a great Dad.

Joe was born in Charleston, West Virginia in 1961 and raised outside of Canton, Ohio, attending Perry High School and graduating in 1980. Proud Mom and Dad, Adrian and Gloria Despres of Charleston, West Virginia, did a good job with this one. And, in customary form, Joe would also say that the jury is still out on the rest of us siblings - Marge, Tom, JR, Kelly and Greg. :)

Joe went on to do some real work, as he would often opine, and joined the Navy. Before that, he had to learn how to swim in high school, becoming an all-county long-distance freestyle swimmer after falling in love with the sport while rehabbing from a back-breaking (literally!) bone-headed motorcycle accident. He had to decide whether to hit another car or a trash can… we’re glad he chose the trash can. While in the Navy, he specialized as a Sonar Technician on a nuclear submarine. We’d share more about that experience, but we’d have to incapacitate all of the readers of this message according to Joe, and we’re hoping he wouldn’t want that (although we’re pretty sure he meant it over the years).

After Joe proudly put in his Navy service, gaining honorable discharge, he embarked on a career as Test Technician and eventually as a Network and Storage Specialist at Computer Services Corporation (CSC) for nearly 25 years. Working the nightshift for a large part of career in his pink bunny-slippers, seemingly to avoid humans, Joe was a real wiz at not only trouble-shooting, but also designing networking and storage architecture. Joe used the gifts that God gave him to do great things. It was only fitting that his career helped hundreds of thousands of people in a field that “flies under the radar” and is always taken for granted. We know for sure that he’s not only an irreplaceable asset for CSC, but also an irreplaceable father, friend, sibling and mentor to many.

We love you and will miss you dearly, Joe.

Family will receive friends starting at 1:00 PM with a memorial service to follow at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at the Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 1701 Millbrook Road, Raleigh, brownwynne.com

Joe would have preferred to have your donations in his name sent to the Wounded Warriors Project. http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/donate.aspx Many thanks in advance for donations made on his behalf to this critical group supporting the best that the US has to offer.