A written tribute to Joe

A very close friend has passed away and not very many people really knew him. So I thought I'd write a tribute to my old friend Joe and share it with you fellas. I started the well drilling business in 2001, the very same day them planes flew into them sky scrapers in New York. I was 42 years of age and was starting something brand new. And without the generosity of friends and an old man I didn't know, who knocked at my door and loaned me $14,000 without interest, it wouldn't have gotten off the ground. The old man turned out was a minister who had heard stories of me and it reminded him of himself at an earlier point in his life. The nurse was my sole employee at first. I had to really hustle to make this thing get off the ground. After the nurse helped me that first year and get the ministers loan paid back I asked him what I owed him fer interest. He said to pay it forward. To help someone else like he helped me. Enter Joe

Joe was a man living in the street, more or less. He bought a room at motels when he could afford one. He had 2 children in tow. He refused welfare. Didn't believe in free money and only wanted what he could earn. He worked for temporary help agencies and after the nurse I started using temp help. They sent out Joe one sunny monday morning. After 3 days he became a permanent employee. I bought a one bedroom house for $18,000 so he has a place to live 8 miles away. And he continued to work for me for the next 8 years until one day at age 39, he suffered a heart attack. The doctors told him he could work no more. He was devastated. He wasn't ready to quit work. But my insurance wouldn't let me keep him. I told him not to worry, that he could stay in that house rent free for as long as he wanted. I felt that I owed him for helping make my drilling business flourish. And I fulfilled my promise to the minister. For the next 7 years he raised his kids and did odd jobs to stay alive. He finally broke down and accepted food assistance so they could eat. He battled social security for disability. And after a 7 year battle he finally won. And they were to pay him all of the back pay he had coming. But since the back pay was such a staggering amount, they said they would send him $8,000 up front and the rest over 10 years. He would never see those 10 year payments. He had cancer. And between the cancer and his bad heart, he passed away late July at the age of 47. He was the best damn help I ever had. Rest in peace Joe. I'll never forget you.

Les