Joseph Wyatt West...
 LETTER OF APPRECIATION AND SYMPATHY
TO THE FAMILY OF OUR SHIPMATE, JOE WEST
August 28, 2005
The Joe West Family
607 West Second Street
Elk Rapids, Michigan 49629
Dear Beatrice and Joe (II),
On behalf of the officers and members of the USS
Rochester Association, I would like to offer our sympathy in the wake
of Joe's passing. He was a great shipmate, and his contributions to
the Association are unparalleled. As the creator of our web site,
which he and Joe II have maintained, is a model for others. His
devotion to making this the best site has paid off in just that: The
best web site possible.
We are very proud of our display on the world wide
web, and we are exceptionally pleased that Joe ushered it through. We
are also aware that the site is posted at a personal sacrifice of
countless hours of devotion to duty. We cannot compare the
Association's loss to yours, but we want you to know how much we
appreciate what Joe provided to us. Please accept this as a token of
our appreciation in honor of Joe.
Sincerely yours,
Garry
Phillips
President,
USS
ROCHESTER Association
Died July 27, 2005
 ELK RAPIDS - Joseph West, 80, of
Elk Rapids, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, July, 27, 2005, at
Munson Medical Center. Joe was born in Detroit on June 6, 1925,
the son of Dorsey and Hazel West. He married Beatrice (Clarkson) West on
Aug. 30, 1947.
Joe served as a Fire Control Technician
with the United States Navy during both World War II and in the Korean
Conflict, and was honorably discharged in February of 1952.
Upon moving to Elk Rapids in 1978, he
became active in the Amvets Post 114 and the VFW Post 1930. He loved his
country, and through his actions encouraged all of us to be better
citizens.
Joe and Bea were recognized for their
outstanding contributions to the community and were named Elk Rapids
Citizens of the Year in 1997-1998.
Joe is survived by his wife, Beatrice;
five children, Joseph (Melanie) West II, John (Marcia) West, Jeffrey
West, Shari (Ralph) Garber and Cindy (Robert) Boglin; seven
grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.
Services will be held Friday, July 29,
2005, at 11 a.m., at the First Presbyterian Church of Elk Rapids, with
Pastors Dan Herlein and Sandy Murray officiating. A luncheon will follow
at the Amvets Post 114.
In lieu of flowers, memorial
contributions should be sent to:
VFW National Home for
Children, 37573 S. Waverly Road, Eaton Rapids, MI 48827-9799
or
Amvets Post 114, 410
Bridge Street, Elk Rapids, MI 49629.
Joe West was instrumental in the
development of this web site, working with his son to build the first
version in 1999. A number of the photos and the very first
"Memories" story, "The Gray
Ghost of the Korean Coast", were contributed by Joe. He
attended a number of the ship's and Fox Division reunions, until his
health prevented him from traveling.
[A note from his son, the
www.ussrochester.org
webmaster]
"I was with my Dad when he passed away early in the
morning. It was a very quiet and peaceful passing. We had
known that he was terminally ill, but within the space of two weeks, his
prognosis changed from 4-6 months to 1-2 days. That obviously
didn't give us much time to prepare. I stopped at the Amvets post
in the morning to let them know that he had just died and they simply
took over and handled everything. With only a day to work, they
put together a Memorial service and luncheon
that was attended by over 500
friends and neighbors. Although our mother understood, we (the
children) were overwhelmed by the support provided and the love shown.
At the Memorial Service, every member of the Amvets and VFW posts, who
could still wear a uniform, marched down the center aisle of the church
and saluted the flag and the picture of my Dad. At the end of the
service, a (I don't know how many) gun salute was given outside, "Taps"
was beautifully played and our Mother was presented with an American
Flag. There wasn't a dry eye in the church. At 11:00am, the time
of the memorial, at Fort Bliss in Texas, soldiers from the EOD
were marched out and their unit flag was lowered to half-mast by Joe's
grandson, Matthew, who is stationed there.
We then went to the Amvets
post for a luncheon in his honor. As we pulled up to the post, we
noticed that all of the flags were at half-mast, including the American
Flag. I pointed out to the post commander and others who were
waiting for us, that Dad would have been the first to note that the
American Flag is only flown at half-mast by order of the President.
The immediate response was "Tough!"
I don't remember how many people
pulled me over to a wood display panel on the wall. I had seen it many
times before, but they wanted to tell me how proud they were of it. Dad
and his friends, Dennis Taylor and Bill Cantrell (CDR retired) had
created a "Wall of Honor" on which small plaques were placed, with the
names, service information and awards, of any Elk Rapids resident who
served his country in the military and any family member who had also
served. I will always be proud of seeing my name right under my
Dad's. I can't thank Amvets Post 114 enough for all of their help.
Dad was extremely proud of his
service on the Rochester, and when I explained to him what an internet
site could do to spread the information about the ship, he began bugging
me to build the site. Version 1 was very simple, but over the
years it has grown to one of the best veteran's site's on the internet,
of which I am very proud to be a part of. To all of you who have
contributed to the site and to those of you who knew my father, thank
you for your support. I made a promise that I would continue to
maintain the web site after his passing and I will keep that promise."
Joseph W. West II
The following appeared in the Elk Rapids Town Meeting:
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