Name: Joseph (Joe) Paul Healy
Born and Raised: Born in Los Angeles, raised in Glendale, California. Attended St. Francis High School (run by the Capuchins), Glendale Community College and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where he majored in electrical engineering and welding technology.
Married to: Susan Healy, whom he met at Cal Poly.
For how long: 45 years – Married in 1978
Children: Betsy (Elizabeth) Ewan, age 40, is married with 2 children, a 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.
Jeff Healy, age 34, is married with a 10-month-old daughter.
Both of Joe’s children also graduated from Cal Poly, SLO
Occupation: With an engineering degree in hand, Joe accepted a job with General Electric. Why not? It was started by Thomas Edison, the guy that “invented” electricity, so he said “yes”. But then his girlfriend, Susan’s, parents invited him to join their family on a Hawaiian vacation, which meant he could not attend the mandatory GE orientation. Let’s think about this… Schenectady New York vs. San Diego, a short drive from Cal State Los Angeles, where his girlfriend was getting her teaching credential. For the boy that had been out of California maybe twice in his life, this was an offer he shouldn’t turn down. So, he decided to accept an offer from SDG&E, and as they say: “The rest is history” or maybe not. See below…
Major Jobs: Joe spent 10 years at SDG&E before leaving to help start an SDG&E software subsidiary, which eventually merged with another company, that was bought by IBM, then sold to another company, and eventually went bankrupt! Joe learned about the bankruptcy on a Saturday morning just after he arrived in Hong Kong when a prospective customer showed him a fax of a headline from the Rocky Mountain News business section.
He was then recruited by folks he met in the industry to join a small startup company, selling software to gas and electric utilities. After going public, his company was eventually purchased by General Electric. So, Joe ended up working eighteen years for the company he originally turned down so he could go to Hawaii with his girlfriend’s (now wife) family! Joe retired from GE in 2017 and is loving every minute of it.
Why you decided to join the Knights? Like a lot of the “older” Knights in our council, Jim Tom Cavanagh kept pestering Joe to join the Knights, which he finally did around 2005. Zip Lucidi then talked him into becoming Chancellor, which led to Deputy Grand Knight, and finally, Grand Knight. Joe appreciates the support he received from a lot of Knights during his office tenure, but especially from PGK John Heinen who was always there to help and guide.
What has kept you in the Knights: Joe enjoys many of the Knights’ activities. One of his first was helping to refurbish the Stations of the Cross outside the old church with help from his then 15-year-old son, Jeff.
After meeting Jack Chandler, he got involved in a New Orleans-themed Harvest Moon dinner, where he met Mike Fish while manning the beignets station, which involved hot oil, deep frying and lots of sugar on the old, slanted, classroom building north patio – what possibly could go wrong? The partnership with Jack, Peter Kapitzke and the rest of the kitchen team meant unlimited opportunities to cook and learn more from some awesome culinary experts.
Other Parish events that Joe likes to support include delivering steak and lobster and BBQ dinners to Harvest Moon auction winners (a special shout-out to the Bushes and their friends for their continued support), Lenten Fish Dinners and Fun Fest (thanks to Tom Luni and Mary Romag). Joe and Susan are also active in the Helping Hands food giveaways every month. On average, Joe volunteers an estimated 250-300 hours per year for the Knights of Columbus.
Joe has two “pet peeves” that he will not let lie…
First, he is religious about recycling. He believes that we all put way too much waste into landfills, or worse, into the ocean. You will find him “trashcan diving” at Lenten fish dinners and Fun Fest to make sure the parish does their best to separate the recyclable items for appropriate processing. If we all do this, and encourage our children and their families to do this, we can indeed make an impact. It might take a generation or so for it to become second nature, but we can make a difference!
Secondly, Joe has been on a crusade to get the acoustics fixed in our fabulous Father Dollen Hall. If you have ever attended a wedding, Harvest Moon or similar event, you must admit that while the sound is “loud”, it’s hard to understand the words that are spoken. IT NEEDS TO GET FIXED! Joe and several parishioners have been designating at least a portion of their annual parish giving toward a fund to fix this problem. Please feel free to designate a portion of your annual contribution to help us make the Monsignor Dollan Hall the best place in North County to book for your daughter’s wedding reception or another event!
What is one thing that your friends probably don’t know about you? Joe had an awesome summer job during high school as one of only two guys working as a handyman, janitor and kitchen helper, at a Girl Scout camp located near Big Bear Lake. He made money and didn’t spend a lot of it, as his housing and food were taken care of. He also learned a lot about construction with all the various projects he worked on. He states that these experiences could have been the thing that pushed him towards engineering.
Favorite Hobby: He likes volunteering and working on projects at home and around the church. He likes the fact that he can do a lot of projects and therefore doesn’t need to hire someone. The list of things he gets from his wife may not always be complete, but he is always working on it.
Joe and Susan like to travel, often with church friends. One such trip was a weeklong drive-it-yourself barge trip in France, followed by almost two more weeks in Munich to experience Octoberfest, and then to Italy where they met some of Tom Luni’s relatives. Nashville was another great church-friends adventure. In the fall of 2022, they cruised the Danube with a college classmate and his wife and will be cruising with them again on the Douro River in Portugal this spring. In late spring they will join some church friends to take advantage of a “Smokey Mountains” adventure they won at the Harvest Moon dinner and auction.
If you got to start over again after graduating from school, what would you change? Joe thought being a traffic engineer would be interesting, but he passed on that. He always wanted to own a restaurant like Baskin Robins (his high school job) or an El Pollo Loco but realized that would have been a lot of time to put into running a restaurant.
Did you travel much?- SEE Above
How long have you been a Parishioner of St. Gabriel’s? When Joe and Susan lived in Mira Mesa they were parishioners at Good Shepherd Church, where their daughter was baptized. They moved to Poway in 1983 and joined St. Gabriel’s where they loved the community which was very welcoming. Monsignor Dollen’s moto was “You are never late and always welcome.” The outside seating was fantastic for families with young children. Of course, we have now built a beautiful worship space under the guidance of Father Michael, which includes outside seating. And we have repurposed the original “multipurpose building” (masses, bingo, religious education, Harvest Moon, and so much more) into the Monsignor Dollen Hall, which is booked almost every week of the year. Joe and Tom Luni were co-chairmen of the capital campaign that funded the hall remodel, so it’s exciting to see that hall being used so much.
Extra:
I really enjoy being a Knight, but I do plan on cutting back on the number of volunteer hours so I can spend time with my family and grandchildren. I’m hoping to find some young Knights to whom I can pass the proverbial “baton”.