Joseph Donald Middlekauff

Joseph Middlekauff passed away Saturday, June 15, 2013 at the age of 90 after a strong fight against a debilitating stroke. Born in November of 1922, Joe (also known by some relatives as “Bill” because his mother (Ruth) liked the name) started out his life in Hagerstown, Maryland. With the struggles of living through the depression, he was often disappointed by gifts like corduroy pants instead of toys. But he also went fishing, played in nearby orchards and farms, and even went with his dad to a couple of presidential inaugurations. He joined the Army when he was 17 but left the service after a couple of years. He rejoined when the Army Air Corps became the Air Force. After training in communications, he served in the Pacific Campaign during World War II. He freely shared his war stories of harrowing flights as a crew member on bomber missions, of a bout with malaria that ended him up on a medical ship, of the discomforts of living and working in primitive quarters on Pacific islands, and of playing poker with his buddies—even winning a beat-up jalopy that they drove around the base.

He came home from the war to find few jobs available in Hagerstown, so he reenlisted and reported to Westover Air Force Base near Springfield, Massachusetts, where he met and married Lorraine Leduc of Turners Falls, Massachusetts. They soon transferred to Hawaii and spent three wonderful years there with their children, Charles (Chuck), Kareen, and Cheryl, and even an extended visit from Lorraine’s mother, Olivine, Leduc, whose husband Phillip stayed home with their young son Arnold.

Joe’s next assignment took the family to Wiesbaden, Germany, for three years. They all had grand times, living and traveling in the forests and mountains of Germany, and even visited Paris, France. After that, the Air Force evened up the good/bad duty score with a transfer to the border town of Laredo, Texas, for four years. He enjoyed playing golf with the officers, and not much else about that place. Then they moved to Rantoul, Illinois, for three years, (one of which Joe spent in Thailand). He didn’t care for the wind-blown, cold winters of Illinois, and when he returned to the States, he was happy to leave Rantoul for a better assignment at Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas.

Three years later, Joe retired in Austin. He enjoyed the variety of work in his jobs at a rental company, and as a maintenance man at an apartment complex by Town Lake. After Chuck joined the Navy and the girls moved out, Joe and Lorraine had many pleasant times at Luby’s, Olive Garden, and Fuddruckers, and taking care of their grandkids, etc. He retired in the year 2000 at age 78, when Lorraine got cancer, and cared for her until she passed away in August of 2001. In his retirement after that, Joe moved to another house and spent his time taking care of the yard, planting roses and other flowers, tinkering with wood projects in his garage, building a deck, watching the golf channel and old movies on TV, and hanging out with a basset/cocker mix dog named Webster.

Joe loved his wife and kids, and they loved him. He was a conservative disciplinarian and raised his kids to obey him and the law. Though his childhood was tough, and maybe because of it, he made sure he provided for his family, and his kids always had the toys they wanted. He was home for dinner every night. Even in those days before cell phones, if Joe was late, Lorraine knew right where he was: getting a haircut or fixing a flat tire. He spent countless hours making Christmas special by designing and building what he called the “underground,” a four-by-six-foot platform under the Christmas tree for a Lionel train and tracks. It had green grass and palm trees in Hawaii and cotton-snow-covered mountains and tunnels and sparkling mirror ponds at their large apartment in Germany, and at later homes, with all the details of tiny houses, a church, trees, cars, people, railroad crossings, stoplights, and signs. He continued building the “underground” until Lorraine passed away, and then he still decorated a Christmas tree every year but his last one. Ignoring the protests of his grown kids, he continued to climb a ladder to put Santa and a reindeer on his roof, or at least icicle lights on the eaves. He did it for his kids.

In the last several years of his life, Joe spent at least some part of almost every day at the Starbuck’s Coffee shop at Slaughter and I-35. The employees (especially Lauren, who worked there for six years) all knew Joe’s “usual,” hot, dark roasted Verona coffee with non-fat milk, and often lemon pound cake on a proper plate. He spent Sunday afternoons playing poker with Cheryl, Chuck, and Carol (with hundreds of chips so no one ran out) and eating a spaghetti supper. He would say, “Are we talking or playing poker?” or “This food isn’t hot enough!” During Kareen’s usual phone call during the game or dinner, he would pretend to irritated. He liked to joke that way.

Joe is survived by son Chuck Middlekauff (and his wife Carol), daughters Kareen Rust (and her husband Richard) and Cheryl (and her friend Kathy Rhodes), grandson Billy Blackwelder, granddaughter KariLyn Walling (and her husband Brent), great granddaughter Karrigan, and great grandson Kostyn.

Funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, June 18, 2013 in the Chapel of Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Funeral Home with Pastor Richard Rust to officiate. Interment will follow at Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Memorial Park.

We’re going to miss him!