Joseph Charles Miskiel, Jr.

JOE MISKIEL was the eldest son of the late Joseph Charles, Sr. and Louise Anna (Sponseller) Miskiel, July 11, 1932.

Joe was born in Kingston, PA, and was baptized at Holy Family Church in Sugar Notch. On one of our trips back East, we spent a rainy Friday afternoon at the Rectory trying to trace his Family Tree from their huge, all entries hand-written ledgers. The Priest was out and the housekeeper let us in to the Office and told us to let ourselves out when we were done!

They lived in a little area called “Carey’s Patch”. It was called Carey’s Patch because most residents were either a Carey or related to one. His Uncle Sam Carey was a WW-1 Doughboy, of whom he was very proud and lived into his 90’s.

This very Polish section of town had a gas station, general store, a 3-story boarding house and not much more. His Grandmother ran the boarding house where one floor was a dance hall and 3rd floor had cots that cost $.25/night. Life was simple; vacations consisted of sitting on the front porch drinking beer and yacking with the neighbors as anyone wandered by. Joe’s Dad used to send him and a brother down to the bar for a bucket of beer that cost a quarter. Of course the boys always stopped on the way home to suck off the foam!

Probably for survival, his Parents moved the Family to San Francisco in 1944 during WW-II for a job. There was no money for restaurants during their sojourn; at lunch time every day, they would park near a grocery store. His Mom would buy a loaf of bread and enough slices of bologna to make each of them a sandwich.

He liked living in San Fran and one of his favorite things to do was pay a nickel (when he had one) to take the trolley over to Candlestick Park to hang out where the action was.

As the war was winding down, his Dad decided they needed to move on before all the soldiers came marching home to reclaim their old jobs. They came to Long Beach because Joe’s uncle owned a dime store over on Market Street and would give him a job.

Joe had three paper routes to pay tuition for he and his two brothers Bill and Bob to attend St Anthony HS, where he graduated Class of 1950.

He went to work at Douglas Aircraft for three years before entering the US Navy 1953-55, where he served on USS Whiting-AV-14, and USS Philippine Sea, and earned Good Conduct, National Defense and United Nations Medals.

By the time he was honorably discharged, his brothers had gone on with their lives and the parents moved to Phoenix. Following honorable discharge, Joe decided to hang with his folks a while and rode with his Dad, who sold drapery rods and windows covering hardware as a travelling salesman from town to town for a hardware manufacturing company.

DAC sent him a notice to come back to work or he wouldn’t get his job back. He lived with his brother Bill and Wife Carmel down near Gladys Street. He frequently invited a work buddy to join him at Joe Jost’s after work the following day, but they had to bring a dollar! That would buy two games of pool, a polish sandwich, pickled egg and a 15-cent beer.

At DAC, Joe held many different positions including aircraft hydraulics, tube development and manufacturing. He once had a boss who asked him why he couldn’t hold down a job and kept bouncing around. His reply was that every time he found a position that paid a quarter or even a nickel more, he applied for it!

In 1958, Joe married the late Mary Ann Strobel who preceded him in death, January 1997, less than one month shy of receiving her very first Social Security check. Together they had five children, three of whom died at very early ages: Regina (4), Michael (5) and Sheila (still born) from Cystic Fibrosis.

After 25 service years, he retired from there (McDonnell Douglas now Boeing) off the C-17 Program. Interim years as Government contracts moved around, he worked at Rockwell 10 years and also retired from Air Research. During his career, he literally worked on every aircraft type DAC built but one.

Joe was a very active member of St Cornelius Church, former BSA Scout Master at St Cornelius, Honorary Life Member of K of C, Msgr. John Cawley Council #3629, was an avid bowler, golfer and belonged to SkyLinks Men’s Club.

In Oct 1998, Joe married Diane Brandt. Joe and Diane knew each other from their respective St Cornelius Church pew. Joe & Mary Ann, and Diane always sat near the rear/center isle and knew each other 19 years before marrying. She lost her first spouse just a little over a year prior to Mary Ann passing. Together they loved to travel, drove in all 48 contiguous states and several HI Islands. They cruised to Alaska, but were unable to drive in our 50th state. They enjoyed several cruises including the Western Med, and drove across country many times, taking a different route each time. It was fun getting so much life out of years instead of years out of life.

Family Survivors include Wife Diane; two sons Jay (Davida) of LB; Gregg of Seattle, WA and two grand children Joel and Elaina Miskiel of LB; Brother Robert (Paula) of Tampa, FL; and many brothers/sisters-in-law and numerous Nieces/Nephews through four generations.

Joe will be greatly missed and we thank you for being with us today,

The Miskiel Family

Luyben Dilday Mortuary (562) 425-6401