Joe Jordan: The man beyond the music

To so many people, he was Joe Jordan of the Jordan Brothers, but to me he was Uncle Joe.

Him being my great-uncle, we were a couple generations apart. I never got to see all the fun and fandom that surrounded the Jordan Brothers’ immense musical career spanning three decades, not even in the end. I simply wasn’t alive.

But I will be forever grateful to have known my Uncle Joe. He was a kind, loving and generous man who always had a smile on his face. It was a smile you couldn’t miss — big and gleaming, topped with a white moustache and a crop of white hair. He’d always had that white hair as long as I’d known him.

When I was young, I remember seeking him out at a family pig roast, my barbeque sandwich dripping from my hand, simply so I could make the joke “I’ve got a sloppy joe, Uncle Joe!” A terrible joke, I know, but I was maybe 6. He laughed all the same, showed that big smile of his and jested me a bit as he picked me up in his long arms.

I’ll never forget how strange, and even scary, it was going to his house in Ashland for the first time. I grew up in Pine Grove, and as a young boy, heading over the mountain was like venturing to a new land. But once I stepped in that door, greeted by warm hugs and smiles from Aunt Becky and Uncle Joe, I knew I was among family.

Uncle Joe never wavered when it came to family either.

When tragedy struck and we desperately needed to raise money for medical bills, Uncle Joe was there to do what he did best—spread the love with the magic of music—because that’s the kind of man he was. He was there when things were tough and he’d do everything he could for you, for family.

Joe touched so many lives in the best of ways. There is no expressing how greatly he will be missed by those who loved him.

He was strong in his Catholic faith and loved his wife and children endlessly. He was tough, cool and humble. He was a great man, and I’m happy to have shared him with all of his fans, but there was more to him than Joe Jordan of the Jordan Brothers. He was so much more to us — uncle, father, grandfather, great-grandfather.

I never knew Joe Jordan of the Jordan Brothers. I only knew Uncle Joe, and that was more than enough.

I know there are so many tales that I don’t have the space or time to tell, that I don’t remember or even know, and I look forward to sharing and hearing them amongst family as we celebrate a brilliant life lost.

From all of our family, farewell, Uncle Joe. We’ll miss you.