Tribute

Mundi Irving (Joe) Josephson

Our wonderful husband and father passed away peacefully at his home in Arbutus Ridge, BC, on September 3, 2016, at the age of 81, after a courageous effort to defy cancer. He is survived by his wife, Carole, son Mike, daughter Kelly (Michael) Saretsky, grandchildren Amy and Danny Saretsky, sisters Linda Geddes (David Hayden) and Barbara (Ron) Klombies, mother-in-law Margaret Lambert, brother-in-law Ron Lambert, numerous nieces and nephews, and his dear dog Shadow.

Dad was the youngest of 12 children. He grew up in Saskatoon and attended Victoria School and Nutana Collegiate. He met the love of his life, Carole Lambert, at Nutana in 1954 and they married in 1959. They were together for 62 years. After high school, dad attended Saskatoon Teachers’ College, and then received B.Ed., BA, and MA degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta. He taught at the University of Saskatchewan College of Education, at Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria, at the University of Petroleum & Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and at numerous other institutions around the world. Dad loved to read, write and research, and to discuss ideas and current events. He was the author of numerous academic articles, short stories, songs, poems, radio plays and other works of fiction and non-fiction. He said that his most rewarding work was taking care of his grandchildren when they were young. He read to them, made sure they had their naps, took them on daily outings and never left a question that they asked unanswered.

Despite suffering from a severe form of arthritis of the spine (ankylosing spondylitis) that he developed as a young man, dad was an avid sportsman. Physical activity helped him to keep his arthritis under control. As a young man in Saskatoon, dad played hockey, baseball, basketball and competitive level table tennis. Later, his sports of choice were tennis and competitive level squash. Tennis and squash were sports that the whole family enjoyed. Our family spent many happy hours together in places around the world with good friends made through sport.

Above all, dad loved his family. He guided and inspired us with his optimism and belief that nothing was impossible and we could achieve anything we wanted to achieve. His sense of humour and quick wit kept us all laughing. His love and loyalty are irreplaceable and he will be forever missed. In his poem, Never Say Nevermore, written for mom, he wrote, “Love is our promised land; we’ll walk together hand in hand; we’ll travel past infinity; we will outlast eternity; love lasts forevermore; we’ll never say nevermore.”

During his final illness, dad was grateful to be at home with his family in their new house overlooking the sea at Arbutus Ridge, BC.  Our family wishes to thank Dr Mark Sanders and his team for their excellent and personal care of dad, the doctors and nurses at Victoria General, and the home care nurses and community care support team from Duncan, BC. As dad wished, a formal service will not be held but memorial donations may be made to the Arthritis Society, Cancer Society or any other charity. We know dad will be reading this for spelling and grammatical errors. We hope “their” are none!