Memories by Mike Chang

Because I know that many were not able to attend the service, and because many have expressed an interest in reading what was shared again, and simply because I want to - I am posting the eulogies from Joe's service here on my blog. I will also be sharing memories from others who have offered to share. (If you'd like to contribute, just email me - there is a link in the profile).

Michael Chang and Joe have been best friends since 5th grade (He's number 32). He was one of the speakers at Joe's service. Amongst Joe's childhood friends, Mike would be classified as one of the "good" ones. That is, he was either better behaved than the others, or better at pretending to be better behaved. Whenever Joe would get on the phone with Mike, I knew I would have several hours to myself. That is how close they were.

I've known Joe almost my entire life, and I just wanted to share a few of my memories of Joe and why he was so special to me. We met when we were in elementary school over 20 years ago, and throughout all of these years I have never known a more compassionate, generous and loving person. We've been through so much together since we were kids, and Joe has definitely been one of the greatest friends I could've ever asked for. I've always considered Joe to be like a brother to me, as he has been as close to me as my own family.

I've been taking a lot of time this week reflecting on the years I've known Joe and the time we've spent together. A lot of my memories are of Joe and I just talking for hours and hours on the phone during high school, and chatting and goofing off during class. I'm not even sure what we talked about most of the time, but I think we shared that special bond where we could just enjoy each other's company and talk about almost anything. And later in life when we didn't see each other as often and wouldn't talk for months, we could still pick up the phone and chat as if no time had passed at all.

I also remember other random things such as partnering up for school assignments, science fair projects and the science Olympiad. I always thought we made a great team, even though we did get slaughtered a few of those times. I remember one event we did called “write it-do-it” where basically Joe would have to look at a structure built of Legos and tinker toys, write instructions for me to follow, and then I'd have to come in and rebuild the structure from scratch without having seen it, based only on his instructions. It sounded simple enough and we thought we'd do great since we knew each other so well, but let me tell you, when I finished I ended up with some sorry looking thing that I knew wasn't even close to what it should've looked like. It was just a total disaster. I walked out of the room totally embarrassed, took one look at Joe, and the two of us just started laughing and laughing. It always seemed like we had the most fun those times when we screwed up the worst.

My other memories of Joe are of all those times we spent hanging out at his house. Pretty much whenever we had nothing to do, we'd just go ahead and invite ourselves over to Joe's house or show up randomly unannounced to play some video games or ping-pong or something. And we could convert that basement of his into just about anything. We'd play baseball with this little souvenir bat of his, or we'd play some nerf football. We even tried to play hockey down there for a while, although that one didn't work too well. And whenever we'd show up, Joe would always be a good sport about it too and at least pretend to be happy to see us . . . well, most of the time.

I'll also miss the great road trips and golf vacations we'd take every few years. Really when I think about it, almost all of my happy memories growing up and over the recent years have involved Joe. He has been such a large part of my life and he has touched my life so deeply. I will miss him tremendously but he will always continue to live on in my heart and in my memories.

Now I just want to say a few brief words to Joe's family.

To Joe's wife Karen – even though I have a ton of great memories with Joe, I have to say that I've never seen him as happy as he's been with you over the last few years – and I truly mean that. You two complemented each other perfectly and with you by his side, I think he was able to find an inner peace and happiness that may have been missing before he met you. It was really quite remarkable to see, but at the same time, I think it was also very obvious to those around you two. You truly were a special blessing in his life.

I want to say to Joe's mom and dad that you should be extremely proud to have raised such a genuine and caring son. Joe was such an amazing person, and a true testament to the both of you.

And to Joe's little brother Albert, I want to say that from talking to Joe I know that he was really proud of you in a big brother kind of way. Whenever we'd talk about you, you could just hear it in his voice. He loved you very much.

And I want to finish with a simple message to Joe – who I'm sure is listening to all of us right now. Thanks for all the memories, and for being such a great friend. I'll miss you.