Joseph Craig Voelker

July 26, 1947 - October 31, 2020 Last summer, on a bright blue New England afternoon, Joe Voelker stood with his wife Cathy to address guests at their 50th wedding anniversary party. "I think the thing we are proudest of is that-as a couple-we do tend to attract and bond with interesting characters," Joe said, smiling out at his favorite people in the world. He lifted his Champagne flute skyward. The crowd did the same. "Here's to true colors!" Joe declared joyfully. "Don't ever change." On October 31, 2020, Joseph Craig Voelker, age 73, died unexpectedly of natural causes in Amesbury, Massachusetts, in the home that he shared with Cathleen Voelker, his loving wife of 51 years. As anyone who knew Joe will tell you, he was a character among characters. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Julia E. Voelker and Harry Voelker, Joe met Cathy when they were 17. While technically an only child, he lived as a brother to his wife's eight siblings, and as an honorary son to her parents, Jack Hess and Jean Hess. At Yale University, where he earned his doctorate in 1975, Joe discovered his love of teaching. He returned to his alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College, to teach Irish and Renaissance literature - and stayed for 30 years. From day one, Joe merged faculty life with family life. As a baby, his elder daughter Julia crawled the corridors of Schnader Hall, the freshman dorm where Joe was faculty advisor. Younger daughter Jess was a California Raisin in the annual Fum Follies, a raucous comedy-talent show. Cathy attended F&M and worked there as well, rising through the administrative ranks as Joe jumped in everywhere - advising the student humor magazine, Conundrum; playing a magnanimous King Duncan in a student production of Macbeth; and serving on too many committees to count. A "great, great teacher" as one colleague recently described him, Joe's wit and brilliance were campus legend. His toughness was too. Woe to the students who showed up to class unprepared (Joe was known to walk out on them), or the poor souls who called during family dinner seeking a deadline extension. ("Well," he'd say, returning to the table with an impish grin and a quote from Ulysses, "I let him have the weight of my tongue.") Joe pushed everyone in his life to show up and bring their best, and we were all so much the better for it. He was a bookish introvert who was also the life of the party, an eternal optimist who worried deeply for the world. He was a serious person who also never forgot how to play - really play - with that all-in fervor of a little kid. He shared a magical bond with his grandson Maxwell Joseph, and together they invented the stuffy-inhabited universe of Blabbermouthia, where Mayor Moosey and his plush constituents contended with vicious dragon attacks and a persistently erupting volcano. Joe was also a gifted administrator, and became the Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Hartford in 2003. There he kept up his daily gardening habit, creating a flora fantasyland complete with a koi pond and an elaborate outdoor network of miniature trains. In Connecticut, he and Cathy discovered a passion for tennis and amassed an eclectic and memorable group of friends. A Francophile who reveled in La République, Joe studied French idioms and irregular verbs daily, filling desk drawers with neat piles of accent-aigue-adorned flash cards. During a year-long sabbatical in the city of Nantes, he dove into French cooking, a passion that would expand as he traveled the world later in life. Undeterred by early failures - never forgetting the sour-sauced coq au vin served to horrified Normandy neighbors - he became a talented and ambitious cook, crafting pastry-wrapped roasts and crisp-skinned duck dishes. As much as Joe loved a great meal, cooking for him was always about people - a way to connect with them, celebrate them, and care for them. Joe found so much space for the people he loved while pursuing his personal passions to the point of expertise. A man of character in all senses of that word, he will be forever missed by his wife, Cathy; daughters, Julia and Jess; Julia's husband, Matthew and son, Max; and Jess's partner James. Here's to true colors, Joe. None were brighter than yours. The family will plan a memorial service for Joe once all can gather safely to celebrate his life. In the meantime, if you would like to honor him with a donation, here are two organizations close to his heart: Our Neighbor's Table, Amesbury, MA www.ourneighborstable.org and Franklin & Marshall College, https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1840/interior.aspx?sid=1840&gid=2&pgid=418&cid=1063 Arrangements by Paul C. Rogers & Sons, 2 Hillside Avenue, Amesbury, MA 01913.