Joseph Mees, Jr.

Joseph Mees , Jr ., a fifty-five year resident of Lynnfield, died Saturday May 10 at the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers. He was just nine days shy of celebrating his 95th birthday. Born in rural Lyons, Indiana, on May 19, 1919, he was the son and only child of Joseph Mees , Sr., and Bertha (Pearson) Mees . He was a 1938 graduate of Bloomfield (Indiana) High School and continued to live in Indiana until his 1956 move to Massachusetts. He lived in Lynnfield from 1957 until 2011, when he moved to Brooksby Village in Peabody.

After high school, Joe worked for the Link-Belt Company in Indianapolis until enlisting in the US Army Air Corps immediately following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He served for four years, was a member of the 339th Airdrome Squadron, participated in the liberation of the Philippines, and was discharged with the rank of First Lieutenant after Japan's surrender.

Following World War II, Joe attended Rose Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1949 with a BS in Electrical Engineering. He later received an MSEE from Purdue University and worked as an electrical engineer for the US Navy in Indianapolis. In 1956, he took a job in the Jet Engine Division of General Electric in Lynn and worked there until his retirement in 1987.

In retirement, Joe and his wife travelled extensively and visited nearly every corner of the globe. On several of their trips they worked as volunteers for the Earthwatch Institute in places as varied as Siberia, Alaska, Japan and Majorca.

Joe married his wife, the former Irene Louise Goodlet, in 1942 and they celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary only three weeks before his death. Together they had three sons. In addition to his wife, Irene, Joe leaves his two sons Dr. Leonard Mees of Portland, Oregon, and Thomas Mees of Palo Alto, California; six grandchildren Joey, Cindy, Sarah, Becky, Walker and Haley; and seven great-grandchildren Tanner, Carter, Parker, Skyler, Tucker, Anabel and Elsa. He was predeceased by his parents and one son, David Mees , who died in 1991.

May 13, 2014
1:00 PM

Forest Hill Cemetery
Lynnfield, MA 01940