My name is Jack Kennedy and I succeeded Bob as the director of the group for my class of ’67 and Joe and I were in the group from the time we were sophomores through the time we were seniors. Joe had a nice quiet sense of humor, he was entirely dependable, and he was the kind of guy you want your sister to marry. He was just perfect. He was not a flamboyant, outgoing guy, but he did have a solo part that was really important. In Our version of Johnny O’Connor on the Back Bay to Bombay album, he was the one who said, “Marry me.” No stuttering, he always did it right. It was wonderful to call Akiko to say, Sally and I said to you after we learned of Joe’s death that we hoped you would tag along with us to a reunion or a concert some time. So when this event came up I called and I was happy to get Joe’s voice on the answering machine. But it is even more touching to realize that we have now on CD a perpetual proposal that you can listen to anytime you want, and it’s even better than having the voice on the answering machine. So Akiko, we’re so happy to have you here, and it brings Joe’s presence to us because we miss him terribly.

Akiko: Thank you very much, I’m very honored

[in audible] that you said I could tag along. In fact, I didn’t report his death  to anybody really. And the invitation from the Kroks came in his name, I opened it up, and I said “can I do this, can I go?”  His email really rescued me and I’m so delighted to be here, and this is what he looked like ten months before his death. I really enjoyed it and his spirit is right here. I’m so happy. Thank you very much.

From Jack Kennedy and Akiko Blanchard at the 60th Anniversary Memorial Service

While I’m sure Jack Kennedy, Rich Hammond, Greg Craig and others of Joe’s class of ’67 may have much more to say about Joe, I remember him very well as a pillar (literally—he was the tallest) of the basses.  He was a pillar in other ways as well. Probably the most dependable Krok during his years with us, Joe could always be counted on to take care of some detail or other that needed doing.   He didn’t need to be asked–he just quietly, unassumingly got it done.

Joe was a born optimist, upbeat in every way, always seeing the fun in any situation, even when the rest of us might be pretty pissed about it.

Joe (and his parents) regularly made their home (in Needham, I think it was) available to the Kroks as a gathering place.  One personal note: I was the recipient of a sofa from Joe’s parents—an enormous, overstuffed piece from their summer place that became the favorite place for my roommates and me to snooze when we should have been studying.  The flowered pattern was great for absorbing the multitude of pizza, moo goo gai pan and liquor stains we subjected it to and for the three years we had it, there were always copious amounts of sand that would emerged from deep in its folds, making some of our late night snacks fairly gritty.  The sofa itself smelled like the raw bar at Anthony’s Pier Four. Joe’s summer home must have been close to the beach.  In the depth of winter, a short nap on that sofa was like a quick trip to the Cape or the North Shore.  The damn thing was so heavy it took Joe and three more of us to get it up our entry way.  My back has never been quite the same since.

Joe was the type of guy who had nothing but good to say about anyone he ever knew.  He was simply a sweetheart of a guy, who deserved many more years among us than he got, but who, by the accounts of others who knew him after his Harvard years, made very good use of just about every moment he had.

Robert Croog ’66