by Lucky Lucan » Sat Mar 30, 2019 8:57 pm
I'm not sure I ever knew Joe, a whole lot of my friends did though. It looks like he had a very interesting and colorful life so even if he checked out a bit early it seems he made good use of the facilities:
Joe was born in Niagara Falls February 26, 1959 and grew up in western New York in the small farming town of Akron. He graduated (almost) in 1977 and left home for New Orleans where for two plus years he worked off shore on the oil rigs. He departed Louisiana on a Motorcycle adventure traveling across North America, landing in Oregon around 1980.
In Oregon, he began working in the wood products industry. Employed by Bohemia Lumber, he worked his way up from pulling green chain in the saw mills to Shift Foreman to earning a position in the Environmental Compliance organization of Bohemia in 1993. After the sale of Bohemia to Willamette Industries, Joe started full time at Oregon State University where he graduated with a BS in Environmental Science and Geology in 1996.
While living in Oregon Joe became involved in The Oregon Country Fair as a member of the Fire Crew. Many of us know him from there. And boy do we have some stories to tell. Most of which should not be transcribed on these pages. Many great friendships were fostered during this time at the fair and continue to this day. Mine only one of several.
Joe went on to work using his degrees running eco-risk assessment around the Western US and was an environmental consultant for a plant test laboratory in the Corvallis area. This led to an opportunity to work overseas as an onsite project manager for an eco-risk assessment at a large copper-gold mining company in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. During this time, he traveled extensively around Asia and when the project finished he started his graduate studies in Tasmania, Australia.
Joe landed in Cambodia in 2002 and as he describes it, “Loved the country and culture, and loved the Wild West feel of a country coming back after being set back 50 years by the Khmer Rouge era following the Vietnam War. It felt like a place full of adventure and potential opportunity.”
He began a new career working as a field Biologist and Photographer for the Mekong River Commission and as a contract Photographer. The latter he excelled at. His many works were published including a book, The Living Mekong , co-published with The World Wildlife Fund. He has since had a fairly successful freelance photography business around SE Asia while basing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
It’s during this time in Cambodia that he met a wonderful lady named Nguyen Thi Hoang, nicknamed Wan. One of the incredible gifts that came out of their relationship was the adoption of a little girl named Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen, nicknamed Hogan Mi (means Hoang’s daughter). She is now a 10.5 year-old beautiful, intelligent little girl attending international school in Phnom Phen, and means the world to Joe.
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RIP Joe.
I'm not sure I ever knew Joe, a whole lot of my friends did though. It looks like he had a very interesting and colorful life so even if he checked out a bit early it seems he made good use of the facilities:
[quote]Joe was born in Niagara Falls February 26, 1959 and grew up in western New York in the small farming town of Akron. He graduated (almost) in 1977 and left home for New Orleans where for two plus years he worked off shore on the oil rigs. He departed Louisiana on a Motorcycle adventure traveling across North America, landing in Oregon around 1980.
In Oregon, he began working in the wood products industry. Employed by Bohemia Lumber, he worked his way up from pulling green chain in the saw mills to Shift Foreman to earning a position in the Environmental Compliance organization of Bohemia in 1993. After the sale of Bohemia to Willamette Industries, Joe started full time at Oregon State University where he graduated with a BS in Environmental Science and Geology in 1996.
While living in Oregon Joe became involved in The Oregon Country Fair as a member of the Fire Crew. Many of us know him from there. And boy do we have some stories to tell. Most of which should not be transcribed on these pages. Many great friendships were fostered during this time at the fair and continue to this day. Mine only one of several.
Joe went on to work using his degrees running eco-risk assessment around the Western US and was an environmental consultant for a plant test laboratory in the Corvallis area. This led to an opportunity to work overseas as an onsite project manager for an eco-risk assessment at a large copper-gold mining company in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. During this time, he traveled extensively around Asia and when the project finished he started his graduate studies in Tasmania, Australia.
Joe landed in Cambodia in 2002 and as he describes it, “Loved the country and culture, and loved the Wild West feel of a country coming back after being set back 50 years by the Khmer Rouge era following the Vietnam War. It felt like a place full of adventure and potential opportunity.”
He began a new career working as a field Biologist and Photographer for the Mekong River Commission and as a contract Photographer. The latter he excelled at. His many works were published including a book, The Living Mekong , co-published with The World Wildlife Fund. He has since had a fairly successful freelance photography business around SE Asia while basing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
It’s during this time in Cambodia that he met a wonderful lady named Nguyen Thi Hoang, nicknamed Wan. One of the incredible gifts that came out of their relationship was the adoption of a little girl named Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen, nicknamed Hogan Mi (means Hoang’s daughter). She is now a 10.5 year-old beautiful, intelligent little girl attending international school in Phnom Phen, and means the world to Joe.[/quote]
[img]https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0499/9329/products/Living_Mekong_1024x1024.jpg[/img]\
RIP Joe.