Joe Tamargo

[stog]

Joe i believe has passed on RIP

here is an article written about him a little time ago http://www.anusha.com/tamargo.htm

perhaps others may wish to share some memories

[Zorba]

Well that is really sad news, I've always enjoyed Joe's sarcastic humor and highly original observations a lot. I bet I am not the only FIBSter with vivid memories of trying to help Joe with some computer problem. Joe's abundant gratefulness for helping him out always made it worthwhile, LOL.

Your presence will be remembered, Joe.

[diane]

That is sad news..Joe was such an interesting character with a wealth of wonderful stories. I skyped with him a few times, and he will now always be associated in my mind with the Grand Negus [for those who know who that is]. He told me a good few tales that made me laugh - including a great one about him in the hospital when he came around after his leg had been taken. I still frequently re-tell that one

Yes, I spent my fair share of time helping him with computer related problems too - but I dont think anyone minded, keeping him online was as important for us as it was for him  

I have his book..signed by him, to remember him by, maybe one day, I will even read it and try to learn Spanish  

There are plenty of people who spent time with him - and though it wont help him now - I still think a book of his life stories would entertain people, if we could get it together.

RIP Joe, you added colour to my life, even from so far away.

Oh, and Joe - if you are pretending again..I will hunt you down!! 

[maria]

He was a colorful character and he spiced up the shouts with his intellect and grumpiness.  I hope he's up in Heaven playing Bobby Fischer again.  Rest in Peace, Joe.

By the way, Joe HATED when I used to greet him "Hey, Joe."  Something to do with his dislike of the song or the meaning behind the song. 

[NIHILIST]

I feel in some way responsible for those of you Joe swindled into helping him with his computer problems. Up until the debut of Windows 7, I was generally building a new computer for myself about every 8 months. My apartment looked like a poor man's version of CompUsa with the, typically, 3 spare computers and parts strewn about.

When Joe's old computer died I shipped him one of my surplus machines. When he received it, Vic took the train to Joe's hood to help him with the set-up. This, of course, was doomed to failure. Vic knew nothing about PCs and wound up playing Stan Laurel to Joe's Oliver Hardy.

Joe had one of those old mice with the round, multi-pin connectors given to him months earlier by Don Hanlen. When all the connections were made, turns out the mouse didn't work. They insisted on calling me on the phone.

I was pretty sure a simple BIOS tweak would fix the issue but had no patience to spend 2 hours on the phone trying to instruct those two chuckleheads on entering the BIOS and finding the setting. I took the low road and told Vic to go to the nearby Office Depot and buy Joe a shiny, new USB mouse. Voila ! Problem solved.

The adventure had the side benefit of providing Vic and me with the mouse story which we used to shout-torment Don for the next 6 months; providing a poor peg-leg with a defective mouse, that kind of sh**.

Goodbye, Joe. Having gone the better part of 80 years without ever working, you deserve a long, peaceful rest.

Bob

[diane]

By the way, Joe HATED when I used to greet him "Hey, Joe."  Something to do with his dislike of the song or the meaning behind the song. 

It was the meaning..he couldnt stand the idea of shooting someone, especially not over infidelity..

[socksey]

Yeah, I spent some time trying to help Joe with his PC.  He didn't seem to comprehend what I was trying to get across, and it was a frustrating experience for both of us.  He was one of the family of FIBS, tho, and I think we all cared for him and will miss him. 

Hope he's up there giving 'em backgammon lessons!

R.I.P. dear JoeT.

socksey



The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. - Henry Miller

[vegasvic]

http://www.fibsboard.com/pictures-links/joe-tamargo/msg9552/

Old link for joe for the fibsters that never knew who he was . He was one of a kind fibster is all i can say .

I will miss the old grump  

I spoke to him on the phone 3 weeks ago and was asking when i would have time to visit and could a bring more books. All i can say is he must have been in very bad shape if he could not call .
I will try to find out Monday what happend to him but i understand he was in hospice few weeks and passed away .

In the last few years i had be very hard on Joe for giving up and staying in the nursing home . and not losing weight and getting on his feet.

Of  course he did not want to hear any of this .

When we had our cigars and chats on the porch of the nursing home , he would talk about everyone that has been of help to him .

Kidpantyhose , Maria , manaxcat , socksey ,diane , Niho , Lews .. just a few i can recall he spoke about .

He did not have a living family member but he had us in fibs .

Now he has gone to a place where he does not need to listen to people screaming  in the halls i want icecream !!

[Surlymama]

Rest in peace, you old codger! 

My memory of Joe was chatting with him after Blotsalot told me he was an old chess champ, had played Bobby Fischer, etc., etc.  Joe was telling me about his lovely nursing home accommodations (read heavy sarcasm there) and his being fairly lonely. 

My daughters both played chess competitively, and my youngest was/is very active in chess, placing in state competitions.  She was about twelve at the time I was first chatting with Joe about it.  I asked him in chat if he'd like to play chess with her online, figuring he could use the distraction and he might enjoy playing a good albeit young and still learning opponent.  Without missing a beat his response was, "How much will you pay me?"  I had to laugh. Here, I thought I was doing him a favor, giving him something to do, and he thought I was trying to scam lessons off of him.  How naive of me.  That ended that conversation fairly quickly. 

In subsequent conversations he explained how desperately broke he was in his situation, and he didn't have much else to offer in ways of making a buck, and I explained we live a paycheck-to-paycheck existence ourselves, and I was not looking to hire a tutor.  Next up, I buy one of his books on Spanish to give to a friend and tell him I might buy another for my girls when I have the money. He was sure to check back with me time and again to see when I would be purchasing another.  I wish I'd had the funds to help him out, but then, well, you know.

But aside from that, we had some interesting conversations -- which would mostly end up with him being insulted and dropping the connection. He was one of those highly intelligent borderline genius people (I know better than you, and if you can't understand that it's because you're simply not as smart as me) that was too lofty and arrogant for me to allow the full measure of compassion he probably deserved.  Sometimes loneliness is a self-inflicted wound. 

Still, I will miss him.

RIP Joe.

Surlymama

[diane]

http://www.fibsboard.com/pictures-links/joe-tamargo/msg9552/
Now he has gone to a place where he does not need to listen to people screaming  in the halls i want icecream !!

So very true..that place was not a happy place for him.

[NIHILIST]

Surlymama said a few things that triggered memories of some conversations with Joe about his economic situation. First of all, for anyone to truly grasp the context, it would help if you ever knew someone who was truly addicted to chess. It may sound like a stereotype but I've known a few and they tend to have a few things in common; one, they don't work, they need all that time to study chess, two, they generally live in one-room apartments with, maybe, a tv and a large bookshelf for all the chess books.

Unfortunately, being unemployed most of your life comes with a severe jolt when retirement age arrives. As I recall, Joe's disability compensation/social security paid him about $ 800 per month, well below the average and nothing to speak of when living in New York. I guess it sufficed for him when he lived in the SRO hotel, but the nursing home got most of it when he had to move there.

Before gout took his leg, Joe had applied for federal Section 8 housing assistance ( money ). As I recall he had actually been approved for it, then he had to go to the nursing home. About this time I decided to retire and suggested to Joe that we could room together, and with the Section 8 subsidy he'd have more free cash and could jack his lifestyle up a notch. Vic and donzaemon tried to convince Joe to strongly consider it but it became pretty clear he really feared leaving the nursing home.

I believe he had a similar conversation with Maria but nothing came of that either.

Just a damned shame, but we're all prisoners of our life-choices.

Bob

[spielberg]

Very sad news. Such a nice guy and that's unusual for a genius. I must have seen at least a thousand of his shouts and "chatted" with him often. Tho' often grumpy not once did I see any real malice. The worst I ever saw from Joe was a comment about Bobby Fischer, whom he'd played at chess, having bad manners. Given that Fischer was picking his nose and then smearing the snot on the chess pieces to try and upset Joe, whom while playing as black was tying the game, that's a characteristic understatement.

I too have a signed copy of the book - sí hablo muy mal español, en paz descante Joe.

[roygbiv]

RIP Mr Grumpy.

Didn't know him well but he certainly was a character.