Joseph Stackhouse

At 5 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012, Joseph, 83, was received into the loving arms of the Lord. His passing took place in the Intensive Care Unit of the Lehigh Valley Hospital Center. Joe was born on September 18, 1929, in Phila. PA., the only child of the late Clara (Heppe) and Samuel Stackhouse. He grew up and lived the first 55 years of his life in the Phila. area. He later moved to Ambler in 1986 and then to Pottstown in 1994. As a teenager, he played football, was a pool shark, and was a golden glove boxer who boxed with heavy weight contenders. He was a caring and loving husband and father, married 64 years to the love of his life, Anne Dunyan Stackhouse, with whom he had 3 children: Joseph Cynthia, and Stephen. He had 2 grandchildren: Joseph D'Angelini and Stephen Allen, and 2 great grandchildren: Saylor and Shea Allen, as well as his best friend, "Buddy", a Gray African parrot. Joe managed and coached baseball and basketball for the Apache Boy's Club, where he coached his own son Stephen, Chris Christie (the current governor of New Jersey) and Jimmy O'Brien (former coach of the 76ers and the Boston Celtics). He trained his own hunting dogs--beagles and German shorthair pointers. He enjoyed hunting with his friends Ralph Miller and Gerry O'Neil. He made his own elaborate patterns and checkered his own gun stocks. He built custom golf clubs and was an avid golfer. He played 18 holes twice daily, 5 times a week, even in the winter and used orange golf balls and wore snow shoes in the snow. He averaged in the mid to low 70's and he broke 70 many times. He was an excellent instructor teaching his daughter and gransdons how to golf. He played cards with his friends Fran and Jim Ryan, and with Helen and Joe Gallo. He was an excellent carpenter and could build and fix just about anything. He enjoyed watching college and professional football and basketball. His true passion was fly fishing. He loved making bamboo fly rods and was master rod maker. He also enjoyed fishing with his friends "Doc" (Leon Rosenthal), and Kenny, along with his grandson Joe. He made his own flies and shared that skill with Jack Waters who he called "the new kid". Jack thrilled him by including him in his annual feast of wild and unusual meals. Joe worked 41 years for the Reading Railroad, Conrail and Septa as a senior foreman and supervisor. He was a good boss always protecting the welfare of this employees. His greatest legacy in life was that he was gifted in many areas and he shared these gifts and skills with great patience, caring and love with family and friends.