On Friday morning, Nov. 10, 2017, our insatiably curious, impossibly forgetful, eternally hopeful, unspeakably impatient, profoundly pensive, tenaciously determined, and painfully brave husband, brother, father, grandfather and friend, Donald Joseph Stoddard (Joe), laid his burdens down and quietly, with no pomp or circumstance, took his bright soul and went Home.
Joe was born Feb. 19, 1936, in Fresno, California. His father, Chellous Stoddard, was a rough neck laborer with strong callous hands, a keen mind and an infectious curiosity. His fiercely devoted mother, Zelda (Whittle) Stoddard, made a good home for her small family of three.
The family, in January 1941, welcomed Joe’s kid sister Barbara (Stoddard) Madsen, his lifelong champion. They moved around over the years, ending up in Ashland, Oregon, when Joe was a junior in high school. It was there that Joe met the brunette beauty, Marcia Macklin. Joe frequented the Macklin home there in Ashland because he had an unquenchable fondness for … pie. Seriously, it was all about the pie. We aren’t kidding, so nothing to see here folks, move along. Joe was all about Mrs. Macklin’s blackberry pie.
But, after completing an LDS mission, Joe returned to the Y where he began to court Marcia. That’s right folks, that Marcia of the aforementioned Ashland Pie Palace, so it was about more than the pies. They were married in the Los Angeles Temple on Sept. 15, 1959.
While a poor college couple living on beans and no blueberry pies, they welcomed their first child, a daughter, Shawna. They were either unsure of what had caused her arrival or considered her a “practice pancake,” determining they could do much better because exactly one year to the day later, they welcomed their first son, Mack (Keri Jergensen).
Six years after Mack, they welcomed another son, Chell (Pamela Palmer) and four years after that, Daniel (Andrea Memory).
Joe loved to learn, to see more, understand more and was at peace with the dichotomy that, with the more he learned, the less he really knew. He remained undaunted by all the challenges he faced, be it a nearly 10-year battle with cancer, patents he desperately wished to finish, financial setbacks, the wounds of humanity both given and received, and nearly always unintended, because every challenge was an opportunity for a solution to rise up. The rise thrilled him so he remained happy throughout his life.
Most likely because Joe Stoddard loved his Father in Heaven and tried very hard to please Him, now he rises-up to meet Him. Joe was met by his father, mother, grandparents, in-laws, outlaws, family, friends, a pack of dogs, maybe one or two cats and who knows — a fresh baked blackberry pie.
Because he loved math, he is survived by: one wife, four children, 15 grandchildren, one sister, two brothers-in-law, two nieces, two nephews and one dog. Twenty-seven souls with immeasurable love and infinite gratitude have had him in their lives.
Funeral services will be held Nov. 20, 2017, at the Lakeview Ward Building, 2032 Churchwood Drive, Tooele, Utah. The viewing will take place prior to the services from 9:30–10:30 a.m.