Re: [cobirds] Joe Roller sad news

Joe was a dedicated and skilled birder. His name still sits at or near the top of many CFO county birding lists. When a rarity showed up at a Colorado location, it was likely he could tell you the year and location he had first seen that species in the state.

But it is fitting that most of the memories we have of him are the personal connections. As many tributes reflect, Joe loved people as much as birds and related easily with people through humor, stories and empathy. 

Joe impacted my life in many ways, but one of my fondest memories was a meeting with Joe shortly after I had managed to use bear spray on myself. Seeing my inflamed red face, Joe asked what had happened. I explained in prosaic detail how I had closed the lid of a box containing the bear spray can and triggered the spray. At the conclusion of the story, Joe wryly observed, "You've got to tell a better story than that!" Years after, I'm still trying to figure out how to work a bear into the story.

When Joe became President of Denver Field Ornithologists, his stories and humor always kicked off the meetings with an upbeat feeling. He took birding seriously, but knew that in the long run the purpose was fun. 

His manner was easy-going, but Joe brought out the best in the people and organizations he touched.

Chuck Hundertmark

Lafayette, CO

On Nov 26, 2020, at 1:32 AM, Thomas Heinrich <teheinrich@gmail.com> wrote:

Reading all the wonderful tributes to Joe helps temper the sadness and shock I'm feeling hearing of his passing.  I remember meeting Joe soon after moving to Colorado in the late 90s.  And while I didn't know him as well as many of you, I am truly grateful to have known him and connected with him on birding and music.  I appreciated his welcoming, kind, supportive nature, his joy and enthusiasm for birding, and especially his humor.  I will really miss reading his witty posts to Cobirds and crossing paths in the field from time to time. 

Thanks to all for sharing your stories and memories of Joe and celebrating his life and impact on the Colorado birding community.

Joe shared this joke (maybe a bit of a musician's inside joke) in one of our last email exchanges:

"The world is full of cello jokes, but here is my favorite -
Q: Did you hear about the cellist who bragged that he could play 32nd notes?

A: The rest of the orchestra didn't believe him, so he proved it by playing one."


Thomas Heinrich
Boulder, CO
Nyctea@aol.com

On Thu, Nov 26, 2020 at 12:40 AM Karl Stecher Jr. <kstecher@idcomm.com> wrote:

I didn't know Joe was ill in this COVID-confined year, and my chest sank when I read the news.

I don't know how long we knew each other.  Besides the many encounters at meetings, I recall the Ross' gull we watched together at Cherry Creek SP and the several encounters scanning Marston from the east side.

We had multiple exchanges of information with many of the humorous comments one on one and not thought pertinent to all of cobirds.

I was always glad to see him.  Not mentioned yet here (I think) is the extensive knowledge he had of such things as history and literature, besides medicine and birds.

It was a privilege to have known him.

 

Karl Stecher

Aurora

 

 

 

 

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From: "Robert Raker" <rlraker@comcast.net>
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2020 11:51 PM
To: "Colorado Birds" <cobirds@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [cobirds] Joe Roller sad news

 

So very sad to hear this news. Besides being a great guy to bird with, he was always so supportive discussing and providing advice regarding my battle with cancer. Ironic that he ended up passing before me.

Joe and I met in the most unusual of places, in a gastroenterology clinic. It was time for me to have my colonoscopy and my physician by chance turned out to be Dr. Roller. After the procedure, while I was recovering from the anesthesia, he found out from my wife that I was a birder and a photographer. So, in typical Joe Roller fashion, not ten seconds after I regained consciousness, he very excitedly insisted in taking me down to his private office to check out the penguin pictures he had just taken on a trip to Antarctica. We've been great friends ever since. You will be missed Joe!!

Rob Raker

Lakewood CO

Jefferson County

On Wednesday, November 25, 2020 at 6:23:28 PM UTC-7 David Waltman wrote:

Larry and others have done a great job of paying tribute to Joe, so I can't add a lot.  My experience was that he was so funny and fun to be around.  So many of us benefited from his sharing of birding knowledge and humor including many who never met him but read his comments on cobirds.  I once asked him after he retired if he missed working.  He said he didn't miss the responsibility, but he missed his colleagues.  You can be sure that they missed him.

David Waltman 

Boulder

 

On 11/25/2020 3:45 PM Larry Modesitt <larry....@gmail.com> wrote:

 

 

Cobirders,

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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Thomas Heinrich
Boulder, CO
TEHeinrich@gmail.com
www.pbase.com/birdercellist

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