(Bass) An invitation changed his life! It was 1984 and Joe was minding his own business in the hot tub at Vic Tanny’s when an outgoing young lady named Donna Abdoo approached him and invited him to a concert for women’s voices directed by Gordon Nelson. He went to the concert and the music was so beautiful he thought that he had died and gone to heaven. Several years later, Joe was told that Mr. Nelson was going to form a mixed choir. Joe jumped at the chance to audition and has now been a singer, board member and volunteer of the Detroit Concert Choir since 1986.
For the first decade, when Joe belonged to many singles clubs and organizations, he was the top seller of concert tickets. Joe broke his own record by selling 128 tickets to one concert! Since then there is not a person that Joe knows that does not associate Joe with the DCC! At the health club, people ask Joe about the choir. When they see Joe, they think DCC! Joe served as the president of the Detroit Performing Artists, the sponsoring organization of the DCC, for seven years. It was during Joe’s presidency that the DCC won the Choir of the World title in 1996. He has been in charge of the Annual Giving Campaign since 1992, and enjoys getting to know all of the donors and writing them personal notes of gratitude.
Joe has been on 7 competitions with the choir including trips to Wales, Spain, Ireland and Italy. Joe also plays the mandolin and guitar for concerts and events. Joe is an advocate for the handicapped, having been a polio patient himself at age 20. After a year of rehabilitation, he was offered an opportunity to attend college as part of his rehabilitation program. He spent his entire 35-year career at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan. Joe majored in occupational therapy and after 2 years in that field was asked to develop an Orthotics Department where he used his ingenuity to invent devices for the handicapped. His most famous device is the Wanchik Writer, allowing quadriplegics to write and type. Some of his patients still call on Joe because of the physical devices he made for them. Joe also developed a drivers training program, the first hospital based program of its kind in the metro area to assist the handicapped with driving. Joe celebrates life every day after surviving 5 surgeries for malignant melanoma at age 44. He entered an experimental treatment group of 30 persons and was one of the two survivors. Each 5 years since then he has a “Celebrate Life” party where 175 friends and fellow cancer survivors enjoy a Thanksgiving Mass followed by a dinner dance. Joe is president of his neighborhood homeowners association and volunteers at nursing homes entertaining with mandolin, guitar and piano. Gordon Nelson says, “Joe is an inspiration to me, our staff and our choir. He has a nurturing and giving spirit and a genuine love for this choir and the people it serves.”
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Choir Members
