Joe Mc Elroy: No ordinary Joe — an extraordinary life.
By SAUL RESNICK
Special to The Sun
This is another in the series The Sun is running about people who make significant contributions to the Haddonfield community.
“I’m just an ordinary Joe,” said Joe Mc Elroy, 66, a long-time Haddonfield resident and volunteer in the community. “Nothing special.”
Joe is a master of modesty, who, with his wife, Marge, has done some remarkable things on life’s tour including his heroic service in Vietnam as a green Army draftee.
Today, Joe is a 29-year veteran of Lions Club service including as president in 2000. He also has had a key role in Haddonfield’s First Night New Year celebration for 16 years. He’s been a member of American Legion Post 38 since 1986 including a stint as chaplain and twice as commander. As a member of Christ the King Church for 36 years, he’s served as cantor and a choir member with his excellent baritone voice.
Joe owns and operates Professional Printing Services at 116 North Haddon Ave. — a full service offset printer and copy center in which he personally supervises every job. He’s had the successful business for 26 years.
Joe’s wife, Marge, a teacher for many years, owns and operates the Beechwood School along with her sister Susan Hagan. The school is a family owned, independent, state-licensed preschool and kindergarten in Haddonfield.
Of Marge, Joe credits her for his success in business and volunteerism.
“She’s the most special, extraordinary person I’ve ever known,” Joe said. “She is also the real success of our family.”
When Joe was named Haddonfield Citizen of the Year, he said Marge was the real reason for his recognition.
“She encouraged me to join the organizations I believed needed me, and she took on extra responsibilities on the home front,” Joe said. “So volunteering in the community, if you are married and raising a family, takes the commitment of both people, and Marge was the pillar in our family that allowed me to do what I did, and still is to this day. I am blessed to have her.”
But decades ago the “ordinary Joe” led a different life where there were moments when a 20-year-old faced the hardships of war. He performed what many thought were heroic actions.
But Joe’s take was simple.
“I just did my duty,” he said.
Joe was hesitant to speak about that time but did so with the thought it might serve as an example of how faith and fellowship can conquer one’s fears.
“After normal training, I was shipped to Vietnam in November 1970, and right into some minor combat,” Joe recalled. “Continuing combat skirmishes unnerved me. A lot of those I served with were unhappy to be there, in what many described as a losing effort.”
Joe said morale was not good.
“For me, I was worried I would foul up, and cause the death of fellow soldiers,” Joe said. “I started to doubt my own abilities. I could not eat, sleep or concentrate, and my health was failing.”
Joe recalled needing help, and one day at a service, he found it.
“I attended a service,” Joe said. “At the conclusion the chaplain said if we believed in Jesus, to ask him for guidance and help. I asked Jesus to take away my fears and allow me to be a good soldier so my comrades would not die because of me.”
Joe said he recalled saying the Lord’s Prayer.
“At that moment it was like someone had flipped a switch,” Joe said. “My fears disappeared, but not my caution.”
Later, Joe with advanced training became an Army Ranger, and he and others deployed to the DaNang area, which was a hotbed of combat activity.
“In short order we had our first mission, and it did not go well,” Joe recalled. “Our six-man team was ambushed, and we had casualties, including our point man and another close to him. I was at the back of the unit, covering from the rear.”
Joe said as a team medic, he felt it was his duty to rescue the wounded. He said he tried to do so through heavy enemy fire, but the point man did not survive.
“In debriefing later, my actions were described by others as heroic,” Joe said. “The CO wanted to recommend me for a medal, perhaps the Silver Star. I respectfully declined, and told him I simply did my duty, and that was enough for me.”
Joe was involved in other combat situations, and his will was tested. His prayers and his fellowship with others saw him through until he came home.
After his service, Joe, with little formal education, was employed in a number of jobs in the financial community on stock exchange floors in New York and Philadelphia. The stock market crashed in 1987, and Joe took on other positions while establishing his Haddonfield company.
Not long after his discharge from the Army, Joe also found something very special.
“I went to a party in Broomall [Pennsylvania], and I saw this absolutely stunning woman, introduced myself, found her to be extremely bright as well as beautiful and fell for her immediately,” Joe recalled.“Love at first sight? Who knows? Sure wasn’t on her part.”
Joe began a courtship which lasted 5 and a half years. He said he was persistent, and in the end, he won her over.
“Marge and I have been blessed with four children: Patrick, David and Meg, who are leading productive lives in New York City; and Frank, a successful musician, who lives with his wife, Kate Brown, an attorney, in Collingswood, with our two grandchildren, Charles, two and a half, and Rosemary, four months,” Joe said.
Joe was one of 11 children of Frank and Peggy. Frank was an Internal Revenue Services agent. Peggy earned a college degree, was a great athlete and was a success as a guiding force.
“My parents were extraordinary people, totally devoted to their children and we all received special attention,” Joe recalled.
Joe and Marge have great affection for Haddonfield.
Joe says “a vibrant, giving community, in which people care for each other and help in tough as well as good times, is what Haddonfield is all about, and for Marge and me, it represents the best of everything in life.”
An extraordinary Joe, for sure.
This is part of a series The Sun will run about residents who make contributions to a better life for all of the citizens of Haddonfield. If you are interested in joining the Haddonfield Lions Club, please contact Bob Stokes, club president, at (856) 429–6497, or email [email protected].
