JOSEPH WILLIAM “JOE” GRAHAME, JR., age 75 years, a resident of Elkins, WV departed this life late Saturday evening, May 28, 2011 at his home surrounded by his family. He fought a courageous twenty-one month battle with cancer.
He was born Friday, January 17, 1936 at Cumberland, MD the oldest of four children of Joseph William Grahame, Sr. and Nellie Davis Grahame. On August 27, 1966 at Cumberland, MD he was married to the former Sandra Lee Hoover, who survives. Also surviving are two daughters, Joelle Elizabeth Kenney and husband Bruce; Dr. Jenna Louise Gongola and husband Steve, all of Elkins; one brother, John “Jack” Bradley Grahame, Paw Paw, MI; one sister, Louise Bradley VanMeter and husband James, Ridgely; and six grandchildren, Tyler and Jensen Kenney, William, Benjamin and David Gongola and Braxton Kenney.
Preceding him in death is one brother, James Sharp Grahame.
Joe was a graduate of Fort Hill High School at Cumberland, MD with the Class of 1954. He was a graduate of West Virginia University with a B. S. Degree in Forestry with the Class of 1959 and was a veteran of the U. S. Army during the Vietnam Era.
He had owned and operated Joseph W. Grahame Consulting Forester since 1974. He was a registered forester, licensed surveyor and a certified general appraiser.
He is a life member of the H. W. Daniel’s Post # 29, American Legion, where he has served in the offices of Post Commander and was the Boy’s State Chairman for twenty years. He served the American Legion, Department of West Virginia, as the 2004-2005 Department Commander and on the Department Boy’s State Board of Directors.
He was a retired member of the Association of Consulting Foresters. He is a Past President of the Elkins Rotary Club and a past Mountain State Forest Festival Assistant Director. He was a Thirty-third degree mason of the Supreme Council of Washington DC, was a member of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, F. & A. M., the Scottish Rite of the Valley of Cumberland, Orient of Maryland, the Ali Ghan Shrine, the Tygart Valley Shrine Club and was a driver for the Shrine Children’s Hospitals. He was a life member of the National Rifle Association, a member of the Tygart’s Valley Lions Club, the WVU Forestry Alumni, was a past board of directors member of the Rich Mountain Battlefield, a member of the WV Surveyors Association and the First United Methodist Church.
Mr. Grahame’s request for cremation was honored. The family will receive friends at the First United Methodist Church Family Life Center on Saturday, from 5 to 8 PM. A Memorial Service will be held at the Church, Sunday, June 5, 2011 at 3 PM with the Rev. Barry R. Moll and the Rev. Dr. Basil A. Hensley officiating. The family suggests that expressions of sympathy be in the form of contributions to the First United Methodist Church Music Ministries or Boy Scout Troop 88, both at 315 Kerens Avenue, Elkins WV 26241 or to Mountain Hospice, 1600 Crim Avenue, Belington, WV 26250.
