Joe Vikin

Joe Vikin died January 5, 2026, from complications due to Leukemia. He was born in 1933 in Colombia, SA and arrived in the USA on 01 January 1954. Shortly after he joined the USA Army. Following basic training in Fort Dix, N, he spent the rest of his service stationed in Germany, Co. B, 22nd Infantry regiment, as company clerk. His most onerous duty was to fetch coffee from the battalion mess hall. The coffee pot was heavy and the trek to the mess hall was long. The talk among the troop was "never tell the first sergeant you can type. He will make you a latrine orderly." Also the paper cuts he suffered were deep. When the troops went out on maneuvers, he rode in the executive officer's jeep with thee type-writer on his lap.

Joe leaves behind his wife of 60 years. Sonia Gilabert, born In Colombia but raised in Chile. She arrived in the US when she was 15. They married in 1964. She is a carbon copy of the actress Julie Harris. They had two sons. Ivan Joseph and Omar Andrew. Both retired military officers from the Coast Guard and the Air Force, respectively. He also left behind their wives, Kelly and Larissa, along with the latter's offspring Mitchell Andrew and Sofia Anastasia. Ivan resides in Dallas, Texas; Omar in North Carolina.

He received his education with the help of the Gl bill. His first under graduate degree was from NYC Community College. Years later he became an instructor in his alma mater. The first day of classes he was told they had enrolled in his organic chemistry class a "very nice French girl." After she left the college she became his wife. His master's on science.

He began his teaching career at NYC Community College in Brooklyn, then in Corning. Before retiring from teaching he received "The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching." For 4 years he wrote a Trivia column in the Corning "Leader." He also wrote for four years a, "Nativia-Trivia" column for the NATIVE SUN NEWS, Rapid City, SD. As a result he received a "Certificate of Appreciation" from the National Museum of the American Indian, on November 4, 2011.

He also wrote an essay on the "Mark Fuhrman Syndrome", of the OJ's trial fame, and a short story dealing with interracial relationships "A Lesson in Black and White." In 1972, for the bicentennial of the U.S.A., he wrote the biographies of 5 American chemists on behalf of the American Chemical Society. The volume is called "American Chemists and Chemical Engineers."

After his retirement from teaching he devoted his time to writing. His poems appeared in "The San Fernando Poetry Journal;" "The Thirteen Poetry Magazine," "The Leader, "The Runner's Gazette of Pennsylvania." He also wrote a short story "A Lesson in Black and White," published in "Emerge" magazine. He compiled the first "Galician-English Dictionary" published in the US by Hippocrene Books. His first poem, "Veronika," was inspired by the burning at the stake of a 13-year old girl in Bavaria, Germany (1794). His other poems dealt with the persecution of women by religious authorities, such as Joan of Arc, Veronika and Hypatia. His wife Sonia inspired poems such as "The Bikini," "Teen," "Jealousy," and "Ode to Women." In this he emulated the writer George Orwell, whose wife was a brunette, also called Sonia; she was the inspiration for Julia in his dystopian novel "1984."

He considered himself a mutt. His racial background, on his mother's side, includes Germans from Swabia in Bavaria and Basques from Pamplona. On his Father's side, there were Portuguese Jews (Carvajal family) and Indians from the Aburrá tribe. He was twice president of the Board of the then Chemung Valley Unitarian Fellowship.

In a letter to the newspaper he disputed Columbus nationality. Instead of being the son of an Italian wool carver, He was a member of the Catalan nobility called Colom. They had a quarrel with the king of Spain, hence the need for secrecy. Had he not been of noble origin he would not had been to marry into the nobility in Portugal.

He was a founding member of the famed "Amigos Trivia" Team, along with the late Ray Carter, William Howells and David Smith. Joe is listed in "Who's Who in Hell," (Hippocrene Books, 2nd ed. 2000), along with his maternal great uncle Antonio José Restrepo, who died in 1933 as Colombian consul in Barcelona. He subscribed to Mark Twain who believed "Heaven for the climate hell for the company." When reading obituaries in the newspapers, he remembered a saying from his childhood: "No hay muerto malo," "There is no dead that is bad." This one is no exception either.

A Memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, January 9, 2026, at Acly-Stover Funeral Home, 327 E. 2nd St., Corning, NY. In lieu of flowers donations in his name can be sent to Planned Parenthood or to the Humane Society of your choice. Not to take room in this overcrowded world his remains will be cremated.

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