The Siblings - Joel

Joel is my younger brother, about 2 years younger. Joel and I got along well most of the time. We didn't really interact with each other all that much as we grew up. Dan was a bigger presence in my life, I guess because he was my big brother. Our family went boy-girl-boy-girl so each of us girls had an older brother. Joel teased Jan as we were growing up but he and I usually got along all right.

Joel was a cute kid, very blonde. In my memory he was a pretty happy kid, too. He liked to goof off. Many of our family photos show Joel taking a silly pose. When he was little, he had a bit of a temper. I remember him getting very angry with me and Danny once and throwing boots at us from the basement where we kept them. Another time I was bugging him while we were playing with clay. I can't remember the details but I do remember I knew he was mad and I kept doing whatever it was he didn't like. Finally he started to chase me, I ran to the bathroom -- always my safe place because it had a lock -- and he kicked the door and made a hole in it.

I also remember thinking Joel had a lot of luck. When we played Monopoly it seemed like he could tell the dice what to do. He'd count how many steps to "Go" or to "Free Parking", where we had a pot of money, and he'd say the number over and over as he shook the dice, then -- voila! -- that number would show up. It really seemed like he had more luck than the rest of us that way.

He had (and still has) a good sense of humor. Sometimes my son Luke reminded me of him because there were times he did things that were naughty but he'd make you laugh so much you couldn't get mad at him. Once Joel held a glass with a little milk in it over my head and threatened to pour it on me. I figured he wouldn't dare, with Mom & Dad, right there at the dinner table. But, sure enough, when I goaded him on, he did it. And everyone just had to laugh.

Joel and Dad share a love of baseball. Joel played Little League for many years and I remember him practicing for hours throwing balls against the wall. He played baseball with dice, too, somehow. He'd roll one hand against the other. I don't know how the game worked but he'd end up with pieces of paper with 2 long columns of numbers he added up.

Joel also had paper routes several different times. Once in a while I'd substitute for him. Sometimes Mom would drive me, rather than my having to deliver them by bicycle, the way Joel did. It impressed me the way he'd memorize the route and know who got papers and who didn't without having to look at the list.

Joel is a wonderful man. He's married to Trisha, who's wonderful as well, and they have 3 kids, Sarah, Rachel and Matthew. Joel went to Calvin College, Calvin Seminary and then Duke University for his Ph.D. He and my sister Jan are two of the smartest people I know.