Joe was born November 11, 1941, in Oakland, California, to Connie and Sam Lamberton. The family, including sister Nancy and brother Jimmy, moved to Portland in 1946, to the Vanport community before losing their home and all their belongings in the flood of 1948 and eventually settling in North Portland.
Joe attended Holy Cross Elementary School as well as Jesuit and Central Catholic High Schools. After graduation, Joe became an iron worker and played a vital role in the construction of many Portland structures including the Fremont Bridge, as well as out-of-state projects such as the Alaska Pipeline. Hard-working even in his “off-duty” times, he spent his evenings and weekends building houses in the Portland area. In 1975, together with partners Buck and Carole Johnson, he started his own company, Action Steel, which built the iconic towers of the Oregon Convention Center among many other structures. Joe retired from his successful career in the construction business in 1997.
Although he enjoyed notable success in business, family was always the most important thing to Joe. Very early in life, Joe took on a great deal of family responsibility, always present to help and guide his younger siblings. Joe went on to have four children of his own, Todd, Suzanne, Bryan and Greg, and even with his considerable professional responsibilities, took on an extremely active role in their lives, coaching and sponsoring their Little League teams and taking the family on summer houseboat vacations to Lake Shasta and ski weekends at Mt. Bachelor. For neighborhood kids, the Lamberton house was always the hub of activity, where anyone was welcome at any time.
After retirement in the 1990s, Joe’s second act was filled with love and family. In 1992, he married Pam Edstrom and moved to a home in the Salmon Creek area of Vancouver surrounded by the forest. Joe loved nothing more than the sun and being on the water with his beloved dogs, Scooter, Gina and Maggie, and spent many days on his boats on the Columbia River, fishing and sailing. Blessed with many grandchildren, Joe played a prominent and involved role in all their lives. Each year, he and Pam would take the entire group of grandchildren (no parents allowed) on a special trip to a tropical destination where an entire new generation formed memories they will cherish throughout their lives.
Always focused on new accomplishments, Joe was known as someone who fearlessly took on any project and could build or fix almost anything. But most of all, those who loved him knew him as a strong, loving unwavering presence that was always there when they needed him. Of all the roles he played in life: son, brother, businessman…his favorite was being “Papa Joe” to his family, and that is how he will best be remembered.
Joe is survived by his sister Nancy Uhrinyak, his children Todd, Suzanne, Bryan and Greg, and his grandchildren MacKenzie, Carter, Nicholas, Elizabeth, Isabel, Nathan and Madison.
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