- Date Of Birth: November 13, 1913
- Date Of Death: July 20, 2009
- State: Pennsylvania
Joseph M. Russell, 95, of Route 38, Emlenton, the village of Mariasville, Richland Twp., Venango County , died in the morning hours of Monday, July 20, 2009, at Golden Living in Shippenville from heart failure. He had sustained a fall that broke his hip 6 weeks earlier, but was on his way to recovery and close to being ready return to his home.
Joe was born on 13 November 1913 at West Home in Venango County. He was the son of James C and Della Porter Russell. He had one sister, Mary Sollinger and three brothers, Edward, Walter and Francis. He attended school at the West Home School, the Richland Township Grange and finally at the new High School in Emlenton, graduating in 1931. He was an avid hunter, fisherman and all around outdoorsman. During the winter he often had in excess of 100 steel traps in place to harvest the pelts of local furbearers. He also raised and trained red bone coon hounds and many nights were spent in the woods following the brays of those hounds.
His school grades and his athletic prowess earned him a partial football scholarship to college but unfortunately, the family did not have the funds to allow him to accept that, so instead he joined the Civil Conservation Corps and spent three years building roads, trails and monuments in central Pennsylvania. With the exception of those three years, Joe resided in Venango County his entire life. During those three years Joe learned the trade of stone mason. Following his CCC experience, he put that skill to use working on the road crew in Richland Township. When they came to a stream that needed a bridge he was one of the stone masons to do that work. The rest of the time he was on a sledge breaking rocks to build the road bed.
On 30 June 1937 he married Ann K. Smith and together they raised two children, Jo Ann and Jim.
After three years of road work, Joe went to work for the Quaker State Oil Company in Emlenton, starting in the yard and working his way up. When he retired following 35+ years there, he was a refrigeration engineer in charge of the solvent/dewaxing unit.
During those years, using his stone mason skills, he built a beautiful stone house from native Pennsylvania stone, “Stonecroft” and created a productive farm raising beef, hogs and chicken while growing all of the grains needed to feed them. His family has lived in that home since 1953.
He was a long time active member of the Old Zion United Methodist Church congregation. There also he plied his stone work trade by spear heading the efforts to put a basement under the church and ramps to make it accessible for the handicapped and elderly.
Throughout his life he collected many tools. After he retired he built a trailer to house those many tools, painstakingly labeling each one and then displaying them at county fairs and other civic functions while explaining the function of each.
He enjoyed life, working with his hands and sharing his expertise and knowledge with others.
Surviving are his brother Francis Russell of Kitanning; his two children, JoAnn Heckathorn of Seneca and James C. Russell and wife Barbara of Fallbrook, CA; the following grandchildren; Richard Heckathorn and wife, Charlene of Franklin; Sherry Ann Franklin of Seneca; Kimberly Davis and husband, Thomas of Polk; Jane Zimmerman and husband, David of Cheektowaga, NY; Timothy Russell and wife Svetlana of Restin, VA; Melissa Johnson and husband John of Valley Center, CA; James Kevin Russell and wife Tiffany of Garden Grove, CA; Latitia Thomas and husband Jerry, of Buena Park, CA; Eric Russell and wife Jeannie of Fayetteville, NC; and 19 great-grandchildren.
Joe was preceded in death by his wife Ann on 12 November, 2006. Also by his father and mother, two brothers and one sister; three brothers-in-law; a granddaughter and her husband, Karen and Thomas Davis; a son-in-law Guy Heckathorn; a grandson-in-law Bill Franklin; and a granddaughter Lidia Marie Russell.
