I have been a close friend of Joe Pelaez for nearly 20 years and frequently attended the Chantilly Baseball Card Show with Joe. For nearly all that time,
Joe and I had seats together at the Prince William County Carolina League (now Potomac Nationals) games. Joe was a Yankee fan and hence his user name of "Potomac YanK.
A mutual friend of ours phoned today to let me know that there was a thread on this site dedicated to Joe. Joe and I attended the Chantilly show on Friday April 23rd and he came to my home that evening for dinner and to discuss the show and what he had bought. Joe called me on Friday April 24th to discuss an issue with the renewal of his apartment rental lease. He also sent my wife and I an email on Saturday April 25th with one of his many jokes. Apparently, Joe died on this later day.
Without getting into details, Joe has had several illnesses over the past three years (as have I) which made it very difficult for us to walk into and around stadiums or card shows. However, I understand that Joe was believed by the Loudoun County (Virginia) Rescue Squad to have died of a heart attack.
For those of you who had disagreements with Joe, please know that even Joe would, from time to time, disagree with Joe. Even we had disagreements, but as Korean War veterans our mutual experiences always overcame any temporary differences. Joe was a bonafide Korean War hero who was at Chosen Reservoir freeing in the ice and snow with a summer unform when the Chinese Communists threw everything they had at the Marines, and the Marines held strong!
Joe was my best friend for the last twenty years and I will miss him more that I can ever tell you1
If any one would like to commnicate with me about Joe, please email me at
thyland3202@yahoo.com or call me at 703-0266-7640. I will be attending his memorial service in July.