Joseph A. Gomes

Joseph A. Gomes, of Wareham, passed away on December 5, 2025 at the age of 86. He was the son of the late Antonia (Gonsalves) from Bourne and Julio Gomes from Sao Nicolau, Cape Verde.

Joseph was born on March 15, 1939 and raised in Bourne. After graduating from Wareham High School, he went on to work many different jobs. Joseph was a union carpenter at the Otis Air Force base during Vietnam War. Later he became a supervisor at the Wareham Recreation Department, then became the Director. He established the "Rolling Rec" which was a donated van that brought recreational activities to the children in different areas of Wareham and Onset. Joe also was the founder of "Mothers Morning Out" at the Elks. This free program gave mothers time off to run errands or to simply have time for themselves. Joe also founded the "meals on wheels" program in Wareham and delivered dinners to the elderly in the "Rolling Rec". As the Recreational Director of Wareham, Joe implemented many programs at the parks and beaches and organized many field trips for the kids of Wareham and Onset, funded by the city. Joe also worked with the Easter Seals and coached the "Tigers" Pop Warner team. Joe brought many parades to the city of Wareham and Onset and assisted with the July 4th fireworks. He also wrote many budgets for the town of Wareham while in the position of Recreation Director. During this time, Joseph settled in Onset with his wife Dotty where they would raise five children.

He later worked for Children in Crisis at the Brockton and Boston Courthouses. He assisted many young men that only spoke Creole. Joe then took a position at Paul Dever State School as the Recreational Therapist for mentally and physically disabled clients. Joe then retired as a Recreational Director from the JRI Evaluation Program for juvenile young men in Jamaica Plain.

Joseph was a well-read man. He was interested in reading, education, politics, history, and learning new things. He loved visiting the library and looking up history on micro- slides. In the 1960's, Joe lead a boxing club at the recreation department where he trained many young men from Onset and Wareham. Marvin Hagler was frequent visitor. The Wareham gym joined forces with Bucky Vincent's boxing gym in New Bedford where the boxers would spar each other. Jospeh enjoyed collecting magazines and sports memorabilia. You could often find Jospeh sitting at the Cape Cod Canal enjoying his surroundings. Joe attended all of his grandkids' various sporting events, basketball, football, baseball, volleyball, cheering, you name it, he was on the bleachers.

Jospeh was the loving Father of Jospeh Michael Gomes of Wareham, Phil Gomes of Wareham, the late Derek Gomes and his wife Beth Chadwick Gomes of Wareham, Alan Gomes and his wife Jane of Wareham, and Jo-Jo Gomes of Atlanta, Georgia. He is predeceased by his 6 siblings: Julio, Margaret, Felix, Christina, Joe, Bobby and David Gomes. Joseph survived many grandchildren, nieces and nephews and many friends.

Visiting hours will be held on Thursday, December 18th from 4:00PM-7:00PM at Chapman Funerals & Cremations – Wareham, 2599 Cranberry Hwy. (Rt. 28). A funeral home service will be held the following morning on Friday, December 19th at 10:00AM. Repass from 1pm – 3pm at Joe's great friend Steven Baptiste's establishment: Stevie's Pier View Restaurant in Onset.

The family encourages flower arrangements to be sent for the services in remembrance of Joseph.