Tribute

He has climbed his last tower.  For over 10 years Joe lived with dementia and on February 17, 2022 the struggle ended.  Joe was born on January 3, 1941, the thirteenth child of John & Hedwig Rieberger on the farm near Lintlaw, Saskatchewan.  In 1947, Joe, his parents and siblings that were still at home, moved to Creston where he started school.  He remembers being shocked that apples grew on trees instead of arriving in a box.  In 1969 he made a trip back to the old homestead and actually met the midwife who had given him his first spanking.

After graduation he joined the Signal Corp branch of the Army, three of his brothers were already serving in the forces for Canada.  For 1961 and 1962, he served in Egypt as part of the Peacekeeping Corp where he helped maintain the communications equipment.  After 9 years engagement in the Army he retired and attended NAIT in Edmonton.

In 1969 Joe married Kathleen Sullivan and upon joining the External Affairs division of the Federal Government they moved to Ottawa.  After six months,  Joe transferred to the Transport Canada division of the government and requested a posting to Cranbrook, B.C. which he got.  For a change of scenery, in 1979, they went to Spring Island, off the West coast of Vancouver Island across from Campbell River so he could dismantle the LORAN station.  It was a Ship Navigation Aide station that had been replaced by a satellite station in Williams Lake.  In 1982 – 84, they moved to Inuvik, NWT where Joe did relief station manager technician, then back to Cranbrook before going to Sandspit, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) as a relief station manager technician.  They then returned to Cranbrook and he built their bermed-house (3 sides in a hill).

Joe got his Amateur Radio license in 1975,  “Ve7CRJ”.  At that that time the club had over 100 members.  Joe became the maintenance person for all the ham equipment and so made many a trip up mountains  to the repeater sites for installing and repairing of the equipment.  Besides doing maintenance he was head of the Provincial Emergency Radio Communications Service (PERCS) for a number of years.  Joe retired in 1995 but continued to work with two communications companies on communication radios, doing installations in RCMP cars, setting up equipment for internet, satellite TV (thus climbing towers).  Joe could and did everything as he was a brilliant man.

He was predeceased by his parents, all brothers and sisters save one – Mike Rieberger of Trail, B.C.  Joe is survived by his loving wife, Kathy, & three sisters-in-law, numerous nieces and nephews.

A celebration of his life will be held on July 02, 2022 in Cranbrook.  Notification of the location will be sent out at a later date.

The family would like to thank Dr. Van Zyl, the staff at the Kimberley Special Care Home, and Joseph Creek for the care given to Joe. If desired, donations in Joe’s name can be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation or library of choice as Joe was an avid reader.