W.J. "Joe" Bethancourt III

I knew you for a very long time. You protected me. You sang at my wedding. I will always love you. I'm very happy your life came full round. Still love you. I hope you are one of my guardian angels

I just wrote a long memory, but I think it was lost. So, I will summarize: I met Joe sometime in 1965-66. Maybe I met him while he was playing with Society for Creative Anachronisms. I think it was on the field of Phoenix Country Day School. I invited him to a party at my home right next door along with members of a drama class I was taking in summer school there at PCDS. I then adked him to perform at a session of Phoenix International Folk Dancers, of which I was a member.I saw his amazing...

Joe,
My mentor, friend and co-conspirator.
I would not be the adult I am today without your taking me under your wing during my college days, and I am saddened that I was never able to thank you for it.
I hope you take pause entertaining the angels with bawdy verse to hear my heartfelt thanks that we met, and my gratitude for all you did for me.

Every time I see or hear something Joe would like, I reach for the phone or the laptop and then, like a ton of bricks, it hits me that he isn't there anymore. The missing him and the pain that goes with it are still fresh. He was a one in a million kind of person. A friend like Joe is very hard to find and even harder to lose.

I started listening to Joe in 1973 at the "Rear End Room".One night,after his show,he jump-started my car when I had a dead battery.I love that guy.Vaya con Dios,Joe.

I first met Joe at the old Blue Goat in Scottsdale in November, 1968, and attended the first SCA revel on New Year's Eve that year. We were good friends for many years; when I moved to California in 1990 we lost touch, but we reconnected on the internet several years ago. I always admired his musicianship and knowledge; we even did a couple of Wallace and Ladmo shows together to promote the Highland Games in the 80s. I'm sorry we were never able to reconnect physically, and now we never will....

I knew Joe for 37 years, both in and out of the SCA. I had a great respect for him, his amazing musical talent, and his wide range of knowledge. I enjoyed many conversations discussing with him a topic very close to both of our hearts -- heraldry, and I learned much from him. I'll truly miss him. He and his loved ones are in my prayers.

My first memory of you is you saying "I demand my right!" and then
you played a song.
A fan from afar.