For those of you who may not look in on the MLB Forum, Josef "Buckeye Joe" Wooster -who will go down as Ohio's premier decoy carver - passed away on November 10th.
His daughter Patti who is a pastor and Chaplain in one of Columbus' major hospitals delivered a wonderful eulogy in a graveside service (his request)held at the Union Cemetary in Ashley, the small Ohio town where Joe lived until he took up residence in the Ohio Veteran's Home at Georgetown, Ohio due to failing health.
Fittingly, the service was on a cold, overcast morning with a steady drizzle. More than one person in attendance commented on how Joe would've no doubt been in his blind on any such morning. Typical of Joe, Pat had to delay the service because by 11:00 the funeral home director had not yet arrived with the urn containing Joe's ashes. Thus, my good friend managed to be late for his own funeral. Joe's wife passed in 1991, and Pat announced that as per Joe's wishes, her ashes would now be interred with his. If anyone knew Jeannie, they understood the love he had for her.
Pat closed the service by reading Charlie Dickey's classic : "
What is a Duck Hunter." Joe used to hand a printed copy of Dickey's essay out on a flyer adverising his decoys (He had most thinking
he wrote it ;-)).
Here's the information Pat had printed on a display of photos at her house when some of us gathered with the family after the service:
JOSEF "BUCKEYE JOE" WOOSTER
Joe began carving decoys in 1944 and was one of the last master carvers to have made hunting decoys for a living. He was a former commercial artist for over a decade with North American / Rockwell Inc. He won thousands of contest awards and was the only Ohio Valley Professional Carver to win seven consecutive Open Class "BEST OF SHOW" trophies.
He was considered a fierce competitor by many, and his accomplishments are often hard to believe today. In a single "World Wildfowl Carving Championship" (Today known as the Ward Foundation World Championship), he won a record nine separate Open Professional decoy classes in addition to a Best in Show.
A respected contest judge, at one time he had officiated at every major decoy contest in the country, as well as being invited to judge the "World Wildfowl Calling Contest," in Stuttgart, Arkansas (His Story "The Great Stuttgart Splashdown is a classic - I have a copy and will ask Pat for permission to post it).
Joe was widely known as a humorist and storyteller on the decoy contest banquet circuit, relating stories of the legendary carvers he had known as friends - both the immortals and the present-day.
He was deeply honored to be the first Decoy Carver ever to be featured on the cover of North American Decoys and Decoy World magazines.His writing and carvings have appeared in National Wildlife, National Carver's Review, Nebraskaland, Decor, Decoy Magazine, and Decoy Collector's Guide. The names of the carvers to have been under Joe's tutelage would sound like the "Who's Who" of Modern Carvng.
Exhibitions of Joe's work have been held at the Los Angeles and Denver Museums of Natural History; The Kodak Gallery, N.Y.C., N.Y.; The Easton Waterfowl Festival, Easton. MD; The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wasau, WI; and the National Collection of Fine Arts - Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.
Some pictures of Joe:
First, Bill Koelpin's portrait of Joe, done from a picture taken by Bobby Sutton, of Long Beach, CA
(Koelpin is the same artist who did the original sculpture of the bronze BBSB that is used in the DHBP logo).
Next a shot of Joe and his beloved Labs (note the cedar telephone poles in the background):
Joe at work (Taken fron Decoy Carving Magazine):
Joe on a hunt in Stuttgart (the other person is identified as Doc Bisbee)- picture sent to me by Ricky Pierce, whose family Joe stayed with when he (Joe) was invited to be a judge at the World Duck Calling Championship. Joe referred to Rick's Dad as "Old Coppershot" in a few of his stories.
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Finally, a picture taken at one of the annual "Ashley Wood Duck Gang Bangs." Check out all the blob-o-flage. A much younger MLBob second from the left.
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