Joe DiLalla (Shoeless)

At the age of 69 years, Joe passed peacefully February 28th surrounded by his much-loved wife and children.

Joe was predeceased by his immigrant Italian parents Michele and Lisa DiLalla and brother Johnny. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends and fastpitch community. Joe is leaving a void in the hearts of his honey Kathy; son and daughter-in-law Michael and Jessie along with their 5 children Ben, Judah, Becky, Aaron, and Elias; daughter and son-in-law Laura and Dan Schultz and their girls Lydia and Emmy; sisters Angela and Yeta as well as his mother-in-law, Lorna and many brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, nieces, and nephews.

Joe was born August 12th, 1954 in Duncan, BC and paved the way as the oldest of all the cousins. His love for ball began at an early age and his passion grew by playing, coaching, managing and the caretaking of his field of dreams at Waldon Park in Glenora. He started working at Duncan Paving between grade 11 and 12. He started on the shovel and quickly moved up to roller man ending his career as paver operator at the age of 35.

At 29, Joe often said that he would be lucky to hit 30. A month after turning 30, Joe was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma with Mike and Laura being just 3 and 1 years old. After 6 months of chemo, the cancer returned, and Joe endured another 8 months of chemo but this time he chose to work full-time during treatments. Not out of the woods yet, 3 years later he had a relapse requiring a bone marrow transplant and the removal of his spleen.

Though Joe’s cancer went into remission in June of ’89, his health concerns continued until his last breath. Joe persevered without complaint considering each day a bonus while longsuffering nerve pain, cellulitis, numerous infections, heart attack, diabetes, back pain, kidney disease, dialysis, a kidney transplant and Covid.

Through the years, Joe enjoyed constant renovations, family time, meticulous yard work, sports anything, playing pool, cards, and darts. The discovery of a pancreatic tumour February 13th added complications that in the end became too much. He is free of pain and now at peace. Joe always considered himself to be one lucky man.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, March 16th at 11am at Duncan Christian Reformed Church, 930 Trunk Rd, Duncan, BC.

A special thank you to the multitude of medical staff over the years. Most recently, Dr. MacGregor, Dr. Glick, the kidney team and lastly, Dr. Tsang and the caring nursing staff at CDH who went above and beyond to make our last days with Joe meaningful.

In lieu of flowers, love your neighbour. Matthew 22:39