BY BOB ALEXANDER
people. In this case it just plain felt good, honest, sincere and happy.
Over time we got to know Joe and the
family, and boy what a family. Joe was the patriarch of a large family that served as the hub of excitement and spontaneity with a generosity that few could match. Joe ALWAYS had a smile on his face and was the kind of person you could rely on to offer assistance, without hesitation. Any time there was an issue on the trail Joe was first to volunteer to help with whatever the task.
ecently we lost a dear friend, Joe Holden, who passed away after a fight with cancer. Services were held and friends and family gathered to celebrate his life and mourn his passing. This is the process that we all follow, but I am left with much to say and feel compelled to pay homage to a great person and hopefully deliver a message to everyone who has taken the time to read this.
R
This is neither a sad message nor a mournful dirge about death. The one thing that is certain is that we all will die sooner or later and that’s a fact. It is not the
I first met Joe when I started going on runs with Tierra Del Sol (TDS), a 4x4 club in San Diego with about 50 families who make up the core of the club. Having been around for over 50 years TDS has a lot of history and some day that may be another story, but as my wife and I were fairly new to southern California and did not know the area we were luckily
Pay it forward is such a great ideal and something I really appreciate about Joe and what I learned from someone who selflessly walked the walk everyday.
dying, but the living we should all focus on. And Joe knew how to live life with a huge heart and a huge smile.
introduced to the club by one of the members. We started going on runs and I heard more and more conversation about Joe and the Holden family. Well, we finally
met Joe and the very first time we met him, he walked up and with a genuine smile started into a conversation that made us feel welcome and part of the family. There is a sense that we all get about people and in today’s world we often assume the worst and are understandably guarded as we meet new
This is not only the story of Joe, but so many in the off roading community. The sport we all enjoy is a team sport and we all need each other to make sure we have places to enjoy our time together. No matter how well prepared we are, how much money we put into our vehicles or how great we think we are at driving, every one of us will need help at one time or another. It is impossible to take these vehicles into the extreme conditions that we are exposed to and not have something happen. When it does are you one of the Joe’s of the world who are first in line to help and are you willing to sacrifice to ensure that others are safe and able to get their vehicles back to civilization? Pay it forward is such a great ideal and something I really appreciate about Joe and what I learned from someone who selflessly walked the walk everyday. Another aspect I found inspiring was the way in which Joe incorporated his family into the off roading experience. Not just through having a Jeep, but the social side of experiencing the great outdoors. The campfire was at the center of every outing and we spent so very many hours around the fire exchanging stories and in the process, teaching, learning, sharing and ensuring that the entire family was part of the experience. It is critically important that we work closely with the next generation of off roaders and teach them to enjoy the outdoors and off roading, and to respect nature and take care of the precious resources we have left. There was many a night where you could see the light in people’s faces as they interacted with Joe and the look on the faces of his family as they listened to his stories was precious. From the baby granddaughter to his eldest, Joe found time to be a father AND a friend. So I say farewell to Joe and while he is gone he will never be forgotten as his inspiration and spirit lives on and on…….hopefully a little rubs off on all of us, for he was a good person.
20 S&S OFF ROAD MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2011 -
www.SS-OffRoadMagazine.com Joe Holden and his wife Sue working at TDS Desert Safari
Happy trails to you, until we meet again. Some trails are happy ones, Others are blue. It’s the way you ride the trail that counts, Here’s a happy one for you. ~Dale Evans
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