Joseph Patrick Dowling

Joseph Patrick Dowling passed away from this world in the early morning hours of December 18th, 2024. He had lived 73 years. Not a moment of it was wasted. He lived his life to the fullest, and for those of us who got to play some small part in his adventures, we are grateful. Joseph had the heart of a defender and the laugh of a pirate. He served both in the U.S. Navy and on the Mobile Fire Department. In his later years, he spent his days nursing loved ones back to health. Behind his jaundice eye and reckless grin lay a soft spot for those in need. If you were lucky, you had an opportunity to sit with him and listen to him regale you with stories of his early years at the Bay House, his adventures hitchhiking across the U.S., his time spent in Guantanamo Bay (including his favorite hidden cave where he sat in the saltwater and soaked up the sun), those moments on the Mobile Fire Department that tore at the heart, time spent with his favorite fur friends Petey, and later Peepeye.

Joseph was preceded in death by his loving parents, William and Floread, his brothers and best friends, Jimbo, Johnny, and Charlie Giles, and his nephew Dylan.

He is survived by his son Robert, his daughter-in-law Tiffany, grandchildren Johnathan, Jorgia, Charles, and Joseph, his siblings Bernadette, Mary Frances, Cecelia, and Damien, his nieces and nephews Amber, Faye, Rulon, Thomas, Marva, and Nicole.

Visitation for Joseph will be held on Sunday, December 29, 2024 from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. at Pine Crest Funeral Home on Dauphin Island Parkway in Mobile. A graveside service will be held on Monday, December 30, 2024, at 11 a.m. in Pine Crest Cemetery.