The news comes as a shock. Barb and I will miss Joe, but are thankful we knew him. Two weeks ago I emailed Joe to ask how he was doing. He replied with Churchillian courage, "When marching through hell, keep marching." Never complain, never explain.
I admired Joe's politeness and outgoing personality. My first memory of him was on a CFO convention field trip when we were taking a break at a Nebraska welcome center. Joe took the time to walk up to the senior woman behind the counter, probably a volunteer, and compliment her on the nice welcome center and how she was so helpful to visitors. She smiled and clearly enjoyed chatting with Joe. Introverted birders like me typically did not do that. Joe was a good example of kindness and outreach.
Joe loved recognizing other people's efforts and accomplishments. For years on the CFO Board he was in charge of awards. He took that very seriously and annually came up with some member who deserved thanks from the Colorado birding community. Joe also worked to recruit new Board members and officers. He was very good with people and had wide contacts. He was always the first to give hearty applause to CFO award winners at the annual convention banquet, whether he nominated them or not.
After Joe retired from the CFO Board I thought he would relax, but no, he took on the President's position at DFO and did a great job invigorating DFO with creative and professional leadership..
I know Joe devoted many hours to the Boy Scouts over the years and was a leader there.
Lastly, I admired Joe's life-long love and devotion to his tragically disabled wife, Mary Anne. Such constant care-giving is not easy, impossible for most of us, but he carried on over many years with Mary Anne's well-being as his top priority.
He was a friend of mine, and many others.
Tom Wilberding
Littleton, Colorado
The first time I met Joe Roller was at my first Trinidad 2012 CFO outing on a Spanish Peaks field trip. He was very outgoing and his sense of humor impressed me as a fun person to be around. He made me feel comfortable within that group of birders and I was hooked on CFO conventions.Joe also sent our Boulder Bird Club a gracious constructive feedback message regarding a questionable eBird hotspot posting a while back. Always the teacher, Joe, and it as an appreciative response. We all will miss you.Sharon NorfleetBoulder Bird Club BirdPresident 2020Sent from my iPadCobirders,
The very sad news is that Joe died last night of cancer just after midnight. His wife Maryanne said that despite his pain, he was still cracking jokes with the nurses yesterday morning. "He made me laugh every single day," she said. Either one of their boys, Dan and Tom, was always able to be with him for the past month.
I was out running with my dog when Joe corralled us decades ago. That's how I became one of many people Joe introduced to birding. That led to us birding together all over Colorado and the world. Joe's love of teaching folks about birds, almost always with a humorous insight, continued through his illness. He was a valuable contributor to Denver Field Ornithologists, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Colorado Field Ornithologists, and the medical community. There has never been anyone like Joe Roller, and he will be missed greatly.
We can believe that last night just after midnight, St. Peter laughed harder than he had all year.
Larry Modesitt
Arvada
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