Joseph “Joe” L. Moleski, of Galesburg, Michigan, died May 21 2025, after a short battle with mesothelioma cancer. Born in Detroit, he was one of six children born to Joseph J. and Mary A. Moleski.

In 1964, the family moved to Galesburg where they grew up playing in the woods, lakes, and streams of the area.

Joe graduated from Galesburg-Augusta High School in 1976, having excelled in academics, sports, and band. He joined the United States Marine Corps upon graduation. He was stationed in Okinawa during the post-Vietnam era and attained the rank of Lance Corporal.

In 1979, Joe took a position with the then Michigan Bell Telephone Co. in Kalamazoo as a lineman. One of his proud accomplishments was installing the first fiber optic cables in the area and assisting the power companies in Michigan and neighboring states during power outages. He also worked for the Augusta Telephone Company (TDS) for several years.

Joe struggled with addiction problems and left the area for a time. He became the “Charles Kuralt” of the homeless traveling the country in search of interesting places and people. He kept in touch with his sister Kathy by calling every year or so from a new city.

“I’m sitting on the base of the Robert E. Lee statue in New Orleans drinking a beer;”
“I’m leaning up against the street sign for the Haight-Ashbury intersection in San Francisco;”
“I’m eating a corndog and watching the piglet races at the Strawberry Festival in Plant City;”
“I’m sitting on a stool at the first slot inside the door at Binions on Fremont Street,” he would say wherever he landed.

Kathy knew exactly where he was and that he was okay from those famous vantage points.

During those travel years, Joe visited as many museums, aquariums, zoos, and famous churches as he could for the culture they brought him.

When he lived near Tampa, he would ride his bike every day to the Catholic Church volunteering to make lunches for the homeless. The ladies of the church assigned him the job of making sandwiches, but they wouldn’t allow him to serve. They wanted that credit for themselves.

In New Orleans, Joe gave haircuts and shaves to other homeless men so they could clean up and get jobs.

Joe often took jobs from the day labor pool to have enough money for a hot shower and a comfortable bed.

He lived in Georgia building and installing septic tanks but returned to Galesburg to be with family when the Twin Towers were struck on September 11.

Joe’s favorite activity in the whole world was fishing, and he was a darn good fisherman. He lived on lakes when he could and was on the water while most people were still in bed. His favorite meal was his fresh catch with fried potatoes and onions. He was a member of the Greasy Potato Bunch and fished in tournaments in Kalamazoo and Barry Counties until the bunch got too old to crawl in and out of a boat.

Joe loved his trips with his father to Drummond Island for opening day of pike season in mid-May. The snow was still flying most years, but the fish were biting so the cold never bothered the hardy men.

Joe also enjoyed making papier mache’ pinatas and masks for Christmas and Halloween. He loved good music, golf, cribbage, the dice game “10,000,” and trout-fishing excursions to Hixton, Wisconsin. He rode his motorcycle to Hickory Ridge Golf Course and rode shotgun on the Wisconsin trips. He also thoroughly enjoyed the two trips to Tybee Island and Savannah with Duanne and Kathy right before the Covid pandemic.

Joe was a good cook, and for several years, he would make cabbage rolls and deliver in his wagon the delicious, hot lunch to the women working in the various stores and shops in Galesburg the Friday before Mother’s Day.

When it became difficult for Joe to walk, he bought a golf cart he dubbed “the Giraffe” for its distinctive decals and tooled around Galesburg for the last five years.

Joe was preceded in death by his parents and several nephews and a niece. He is survived by his daughter, Molly “Cules” (Will) Bushouse, six grandsons, five siblings: Kathy (Duanne) O’Donnell, Jean Munn, Tom (Michele) Moleski, Phil Moleski, and Margie (Phil) Burnett, his former wife, Sue Moleski, brother-in-law, Dan Munn, and many nieces and nephews. He also leaves behind his long-time friends, Jeff Sutherland and Vickie Barrus.