+TheAlabamaRambler Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 (edited) I just heard that we lost JoGPS. So sad to hear this. What a great man. He is who recruited me to become a Groundspeak Geocache Reviewer. I had a lot of fun with him at events and camping trips all over the country. One of the few men I truly respect, his advice and guidance was always spot on but never offered unless asked for. One of the few men who knew how to use the word "Cool!" He was indeed a cool guy who epitomized the word. Geocachers, Geocaching and Groundspeak are all better from his tireless work over the years. Bummer. Edited June 2, 2015 by TheAlabamaRambler Quote Link to comment
+Foothills Drifter Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Sad news indeed..... Vern / Foothills Drifter... Quote Link to comment
+fizzymagic Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 This belongs in the main forum. JoGPS was an icon of the sport. Quote Link to comment
Cascade Reviewer Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I'm moving this to Geocaching Topics. I'm very saddened to hear this news. Joe was a lovely man. Quote Link to comment
+hydnsek Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 So sorry to hear. JoGPS is one of the great names of geocaching. I only met him once, but his legacy lives on in many geocaching arenas. Quote Link to comment
+carleenp Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I put this on Facebook just a bit ago, although Nate corrected me and the photo was actually in Florida: Joe Armstrong with Nate Irish in Seattle. RIP Joe. You were beyond a pioneer of our sport, you were a heck of a great guy and a great friend. When you find that ultimate cache at the pearly gates "Sign my name!" As a bit of background, Joe saying "sign my name!" is one of my favorite memories of him from a crazy and fun 24 hour caching run years ago and it was a long standing joke with him. He truly was a great figure in geocaching and a truly good friend. I was in Nashville just this past weekend and thought about contacting him but didn't because I was on a tight schedule. I regret not doing so now. The caching community has lost an icon and a precious advocate and friend. Quote Link to comment
+LewisClan77 Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I had the pleasure to meet Joe at all 3 of the Geowoodatocks I have been to. I talked at great length with him in TN in 2009. I will always keep him in mind when I look at my 2005 Reviewer coin he gave me. Quote Link to comment
+TheAlabamaRambler Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 (edited) I wish I had this picture to share, because it's always the first image of him that comes to my mind - After a long day of geocaching a group of cachers are sitting around a campfire, Joe is twenty feet away, sitting on the ground at the base of a tree with his laptop, making sure that everyone who hid a cache that day got their listing in a timely manner. Dedication! Here's Joe caching in style on my pontoon boat at my 'Pirates at Cherokee Lake' event. 22 boat-accessible caches on islands in Cherokee Lake in Tennessee. Edited June 3, 2015 by TheAlabamaRambler Quote Link to comment
+Mopar Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 (edited) Though Joe and I bumped heads on "caching style" (and just about everything else) back in the day, I always knew he was sincere in his vision and wanted nothing but the best for the geocaching world. GeoWoodstock has set the bar for events from day one, and that's in large part to Joe. I can just imagine Joe in line at the pearly gates, and Joe yelling up front to where St. Peter is logging in the newcomers, "Sign my name!". RIP JoGPS Edited June 3, 2015 by Mopar Quote Link to comment
RuideAlmeida Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 RIP Joe Armstrong! You had a huge impact on the way that geocaching is played in Brazil, thanks to your Mission 4: Southern Bowl, JoGPS will go on living! Quote Link to comment
+ArtieD Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I can't say that I ever personally interacted with JoGPS, but I did see him at GW12...our condolences. Quote Link to comment
+DanOCan Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I only had the pleasure of meeting Joe once, and that was only briefly, but I knew I had met one of the true legends of caching. JoGPS was proof that respect from the caching community comes from your contributions, not your Find count. R.I.P. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 (edited) Like Mopar, I had often bumped heads with Joe here in the forums in the early days. But when I finally met him in person at GWIX, he was nothing but gracious. In fact I was looking for him at Geowoodstock last week because I wanted to say hello, but unfortunately we never hooked up. I figured next time. Sadly that won't come. He will be missed by the geocaching community and all who knew him. Edited June 3, 2015 by briansnat Quote Link to comment
+JL_HSTRE Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I never met JoGPS and may have never heard his name until he passed. Can some folks please elaborate what he did? I have gotten the impression his contributions were much more than just "friendly geocacher" and I would think I'm not the only one who had no idea who he was. Quote Link to comment
Keystone Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 (edited) Joe's geocaching resume is too long for a forum post, and words can't do justice to his personality and contributions. Here's a partial list: 1. Founder of GeoWoodstock 2. Founding Member of MTGC, one of the first geocaching organizations in the world 3. Early proponent of working with land managers (such as TN State Parks) to develop pro-geocaching policies 4. Volunteer Cache Reviewer and Forum Moderator 5. Resurrected the Project APE Cache in Brazil 6. Pioneering hider of "evil" micro-caches and custom engineered containers he built in his machine shop, never seen before but commonplace today If you've organized a Mega-Event, if you enjoy being a member of a geocaching organization, if you've hidden a cache in compliance with a land manager policy, if you love hunting "lonely caches" or if you are a "Maker" of special cache containers, your lineage traces to JoGPS -- whether you realized it or not. Edited June 4, 2015 by Keystone Quote Link to comment
+3doxies Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Sad to hear this. First met Joe on the infamous "Pirates of the Cherokee" cruise - wonderful guy. Learned a lot from him, including some things I did not wish to know, but am thankful for now. Truly of the few good guys. His passing leaves a vacuum in the game. Quote Link to comment
+BAMBOOZLE Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Very sad to hear this, we bumped into him many years ago in the Nashville area. Our condolences to his family. Some can't be replaced and Joe is one. Quote Link to comment
+SwineFlew Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I met him for the second time last week at GeoWoodstock. Hes really a nice guy to have around. RIP JoGPS! Quote Link to comment
+Snoogans Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Only 19 replies for one of the greatest geocachers to ever participate in this sport? I pronounce this forum dead. Let me tell you about my friend Joe Armstrong. He was already a legend when I started caching in 2003. I had heard about a particular cache he had hidden and I wanted to emulate it, so I contacted him and offered to credit him on the cache page. He wouldn't take the credit and those that know him would know why. Over the years I was lucky enough to cache and hang out with Joe several times having attended 7 GeoWoodstocks and all the planning events for GW4 which is how Joe changed the course of my life. I jumped at the opportunity to attend GW3 in Jacksonville ,Florida, after hearing all about GW2 from Mustard Devil and also having arranged a prank on CarleenP during that event that had geocachers bringing her hundreds of dirty golf balls. By sheer coincidence my niece was living in Naval housing nearly across the street from the event she and her children got to count GW3 as their first find. It was shaping up to be one of the best times of my life. And it was. I made a lot of lifelong friends that day and cemented friendships that started right here in this forum. At the end of the event I found myself in a circle next to Joe as we all wound down the event and talk turned to the next GeoWoodstock and where it might be. What I didn't know at the time was that most of the people in that circle were volunteer reviewers. Joe turned to me and paid me a great compliment. He said, "You are the only prolific poster in the forums that I haven't wanted to strangle at some point... So how about we have the next GeoWoodstock in Texas?" I accepted and handed off the event to the TXGA and took over as the host of the Trackable Station for GW4 which was the largest outcry of angst over GW3's truck bed full of trackables. I was also to host the Meet & Greet for GW4. About a month after GW3 in full on planning for the what we knew would probably be the first ever Mega Event my life changed. I met The Snoogstress and I can honestly say that if I hadn't been planning that event, we never would have met. We got engaged the night befor GW4 after my One Degree of Separation meet & greet. We now have a 7.5yo Snooglet. Rest in peace Joe. You are immortal as long as people remember you and you will be long remembered. Quote Link to comment
+Car54 Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Snoogans, that is a beautiful tribute! We've only attended one GW - the one in our home state of IN and I don't think we've ever had the honor of meeting JoGPS. It sounds as though that is most definitely our loss. RIP, Joe. Mrs. Car54 Quote Link to comment
sixxdog_uk Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 RIP JoGPS It's a sad day when anyone dies ,and a person who has added so much to our hobby and to peoples lives will be sadly missed. I never met JoGPS but it is thanks to his hard work that last week i was able to complete a dream and log the last APE cache. Thank you JoGPS , your spirit lives on in this game we play. God bless you and keep you. Alex (Sixxdog_UK) Quote Link to comment
+sduck Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 What to say? He's a legend, and will be missed. I met him around when I was just starting out - I had never met another geocacher before, and saw this guy walking away from a place where I knew there was a geocache while I was driving by, and yelled out the window - "geocaching?" He gave me a big smile and a thumbs up, so I got out and talked to him for a while. At the time he had over 100 finds, which was a Really Big Deal at the time. He showed me how to find one of his caches about a block away, and we became great friends. I next met him at the first event cache I ever went to - and it was his 1K finds event., which at the time was A Huge Deal! We were all supposed to go into the woods and find his tribute cache and sign it before he did, so I ventured forth. Found the "obvious" hiding location, and was valiantly trying to find the actual cache, for quite a few minutes, and finally he clears his throat, and with a big smile points right at it - I hadn't even heard him walk up! Too many other stories. Like the time he loaned me his boat to go find a bunch of river caches he had hidden, and what was just 2 of us turned into 8 people in 2 boats, both equipped only with trolling motors, and the batteries giving out and us having to paddle both boats back upstream with only 2 paddles. But we found the caches! And they were awesome! He was a great friend, a true inspiration, and he will truly be missed. Quote Link to comment
beekayy Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 (edited) I just found out that jerryw38 passed away last week. He was a prolific cacher in the Lodi, California area. He will be missed. Edited September 30, 2015 by beekayy Quote Link to comment
+skoolz2 Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Touching. I have learned that this hobby takes me places that I would have never seen and have met people would have never met. I hope to keep these friends and look back on these memories with a smile, knowing that I have done more than I would have. Quote Link to comment
vagabond Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 I just found out that jerryw38 passed away last week. He was a prolific cacher in the Lodi, California area. He will be missed. I noticed that he was in the Lodi area, and checked his hides and found we had found a few of his when we were guest hosting at Casswell back in 08 Quote Link to comment
+Snoogans Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 On June 17, 2015 at 8:18 PM, Snoogans said: Only 19 replies for one of the greatest geocachers to ever participate in this sport? I pronounce this forum dead. Let me tell you about my friend Joe Armstrong. He was already a legend when I started caching in 2003. I had heard about a particular cache he had hidden and I wanted to emulate it, so I contacted him and offered to credit him on the cache page. He wouldn't take the credit and those that know him would know why. Over the years I was lucky enough to cache and hang out with Joe several times having attended 7 GeoWoodstocks and all the planning events for GW4 which is how Joe changed the course of my life. I jumped at the opportunity to attend GW3 in Jacksonville ,Florida, after hearing all about GW2 from Mustard Devil and also having arranged a prank on CarleenP during that event that had geocachers bringing her hundreds of dirty golf balls. By sheer coincidence my niece was living in Naval housing nearly across the street from the event she and her children got to count GW3 as their first find. It was shaping up to be one of the best times of my life. And it was. I made a lot of lifelong friends that day and cemented friendships that started right here in this forum. At the end of the event I found myself in a circle next to Joe as we all wound down the event and talk turned to the next GeoWoodstock and where it might be. What I didn't know at the time was that most of the people in that circle were volunteer reviewers. Joe turned to me and paid me a great compliment. He said, "You are the only prolific poster in the forums that I haven't wanted to strangle at some point... So how about we have the next GeoWoodstock in Texas?" I accepted and handed off the event to the TXGA and took over as the host of the Trackable Station for GW4 which was the largest outcry of angst over GW3's truck bed full of trackables. I was also to host the Meet & Greet for GW4. About a month after GW3 in full on planning for the what we knew would probably be the first ever Mega Event my life changed. I met The Snoogstress and I can honestly say that if I hadn't been planning that event, we never would have met. We got engaged the night befor GW4 after my One Degree of Separation meet & greet. We now have a 7.5yo Snooglet. Rest in peace Joe. You are immortal as long as people remember you and you will be long remembered. Sniff Headed to my 8th GW on Friday and my first one since Joe passed. I think of Joe often and my wife and now 11.5yo son are always a reminder. 1 Quote Link to comment
RuideAlmeida Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 Last weekend me, RogerCNS and MissJenn had some chat, remembering Joe... all about the Brazilian APE Cache GeoTour, that is born mostly because of Mission 4: Southern Bowl His memory will be alive among us for many years. Quote Link to comment
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