Joseph L. Labounty Jr.

Joseph Lawrence Labounty Jr., 86, of Safety Harbor, FL, passed away peacefully on December 28, 2014 at 9pm, surrounded by his family who loved him very much, at Brookside Hospice in Palm Harbor, FL. He was born on August 18, 1928 in Fall River, MA.

He was a veteran who always loved his country very much. He served in the United States Navy for about 10 years. He was the General Manager of Waste Management for over 20 years. He first worked in Jacksonville, Fl. and then moved to Key West, FL, where he met and then married the love of his life, “Jackie” Labounty. His daughter Paula also moved to Key West to be near her dad and that is where she met her husband, Mike. His son Jo-Jo also moved to Key West where he still resides today. While he lived in Key West he joined the Masons and then became a Shriner. He was also in the Elks.

Joe and Jackie had a wonderful life together filled with so many wonderful memories and lots of adventures. One of their most memorable adventures was their life on a 52 foot Irwin sailboat named, “The Miss Garbologist”. They not only sailed the islands around Key West and Nassau: but, they lived on their sailboat together for about 15 years. Our family still enjoys hearing the tales from this period in his life. He eventually ended up selling his sailboat and living in Briar Creek in Safety Harbor where he made lots of friends. He had way too many friends to mention them all. He always enjoyed playing poker with his buddies on Monday and Wednesday nights. Some of the guys were Jim Johnston, Bill Beyer, Les Maynard, Arn G, WeaselII (Bob Wilkins), Ed O’Connor, Sal-Angelo-The Namadams, Pete Foley, Tom Feeley and many others.

Some of these guys are probably playing a nice game of poker with him in heaven right now! He served on the board in Briar Creek as Vice-President with Gloria Shields and Ralph Hickey for 6 years. He also loved bowling while he lived here and he played with several people from phase 1and phase 2. His friends loved him. He was always trying to find ways to help people and make them laugh whenever he could. Every day he talked on the phone with Don Meeks, Jim Johnston, and many others.

When he wasn’t really able to get out much anymore we used to joke and tell him that he was going to get telephonitis from being on the phone all day. I guess he was still passing out his love over the phone. Our family also wants to send an extra special thank you to his friend Jim Johnston and Jim’s son Eric for being with our family during this difficult time and continuing to be Joe’s friend until the end. Also, we want to thank all of his other friends from Briar Creek for being such a big part of his life as well.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph L. Labounty and Agnus V. Boyce and his first wife Gloria A. Labounty. He is survived by his loving wife of 38 years, Jacqueline K. Labounty; his two children, Paula A. Dornan and her husband Michael W. Dornan and “Jo-Jo” Joseph L. Labounty III and his wife Gail Labounty; 3 grandchildren Helah D. LeBoeuf and her husband Christopher M. LeBoeuf, Heidi D. Bassa and her husband Carlos F. Bassa Jr., and Michael J. Labounty; and 3 great-grandchildren, Phoebe E. LeBoeuf, Benjamin J. LeBoeuf, and Logan M. Bassa.

Joe decided to be cremated and his ashes will be laid to rest sometime in February with his close relatives present. His final resting place will be at the Bay Pines National Cemetery in St Petersburg, FL.

He loved his wife, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren very much. All the words in the world cannot explain what he meant to us; but, we are going to try. Our family is now going to share some of our stories and memories about him with you.

Joseph Labounty was a man who always kept his word. When his daughter, Paula was a little girl she got caught playing with a beautiful watch. She got into trouble because it was his mother’s watch and his mother had died when he was a young boy. However, on that same day he promised her that on the day that she graduated from high school he would buy her a beautiful watch. Well, at the time when she graduated from high school in Massachusetts he was working in Jacksonville, FL; but, he made it a point to keep his promise. Needless to say, on her graduation day she received a beautiful diamond watch in the mail from her daddy!!!

One of Joe’s friends from Briar Creek, Nancy Burch, was telling my Grandma Jackie about how he was always trying to find ways to help people. Sometimes it could just be a small act of kindness that he would try to do for people. For example, when Nancy was sick and on crutches, Joe would pick up her newspaper very early every morning so that she didn’t have to try to bend with her crutches. He would simply hang it up by her door. This doesn’t seem like a big deal but these are the sorts of wonderful memories that so many of his friends in Briar Creek have of him. Just the fact that he would always try to go the extra mile to help whoever he could.

Everyone who knew him knew that he had a wonderful sense of humor. He was always known simply as Grandpa to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren until his last great-grandson came along. His name is Logan and he decided that “Grandpa” was now going to be “Paw-paw”. He never said anything and he never tried to correct him. He just laughed and went along with it. Everyone who knew Joe knows that he always had a beautiful white beard. Well, this year Logan decided that every Santa that he saw was Paw-Paw. Joe just went right along with it and laughed. He was always so great with Logan even with he got sicker and had to be on his oxygen all the time. He and Logan would play tug of war with his tubing. He was so fun to be around and was truly inspiring to his family and others.

Grandpa Labounty was a great example of determination, hard work, and love to his family. He was full of wit and always had the funniest things to say. I will always remember going to breakfast, visiting him at his office, swimming, and vacationing at his house as a little girl. I have wonderful memories of the time we spent in Key West. When I turned 18, I flew to the Bahamas and spent time with Grandpa and Grandma on the boat. He was very passionate about everything he did. He was a member of the NRA and I have so many funny memories of why you never surprise a man who is armed. One time we went on a surprise trip to Key West only to step on the boat and knock on the door and find Grandpa waiting to see who it was with his gun. He was a character that made our lives wonderful and he will be missed daily. He believed in living everyday fulfilling your dreams. For example, how he lived on his boat and simply sailed wherever he wanted to go. He was here for all of the milestones. For example, graduations, weddings, babies, etc. I will always remember all of the funny moments like when grandma Jackie would leave for the store and he would scream, “Remember the rule – for every one thing you buy two things have to go or we are going to sink or get arrested by the Coast Guard for being under the line on the boat”.  Love you forever! Helah

I loved my Grandpa more than words can say. He was such a wonderful man. I will never forget when I went to visit him and my Grandma Jackie one February. They were living in Briar Creek at the time and they had a big Valentine’s Day dance at the club house. I remember that day like it was yesterday. Right down to what we were wearing. Well, shortly after we got there my grandpa asked me to dance with him and I told him, “no” because I had never danced before and I didn’t know how. He just smiled and grabbed my hand and dragged me onto the dance floor and said “Just follow me baby, it’s time to learn”. That night my grandpa taught me to dance for the very first time. That’s who he was to me my hero who always saved me when things got tough. I can remember getting into trouble as a teenager and my grandpa always calling me on the phone and telling me that he was always there for me whenever I needed him. He always told me that I was always welcome to come to his house anytime. I love you so much. You hold a huge piece of my heart until we meet again. Love your Heidi girl forever!

There are so many stories about the “Miss Garbologist” that it is very hard to choose. It seems like every trip that Joe and I took there were wild things that happened. For example, sails blew out, dinghies were lost, the bilge filled up with water, etc. Crazy stuff happened especially when we traveled with our poodle named “Josie”. One of the many stories that stands out most in my mind was in the Dry Tortugas. We got caught in a big storm. The winds were very strong between 60 and 80 knots, it was getting darker, the boat was rocking violently, and water just kept pouring in the boat. It was terrible. We were traveling with a couple of friends, the Pasco’s. Joe and Bill had to literally crawl out on their bellies to try to fix the anchor. When Bill turned around he discovered Joe screaming and being washed right out of the boat between the lines. With a little luck and a lot of help from the good Lord, there was some line hanging off of the boat into the water and by some miracle Joe was able to grab on. During this whole time waves were crashing into the side of the boat, water was washing in, the boat was rocking and rolling, the wind was terrible, and it was pouring down raining the whole time. Finally, after frantically fighting to get back into the boat Joe managed to get his feet on the rub rail. He got to the entry way and Bill and I had to literally climb out laying down on the deck and hall him back into the cockpit. We finally anchored between the Dry Tortugas and Logger Head Key. There was a lighthouse on Logger Head Key where the coast guard was. We had to call them for help and they came and dove for our anchor. We lost our dinghy during this whole crazy event and the Coast Guard found it 2 days later over 100 miles away. The Coast Guard towed us over to their buoy so we were safe. We stayed there about 3 to 4 days. Joe was one saved soul! With luck and the grace of God he made it!

Then we did the Bahamas! Another crazy memory I have is when we were going into Nassau and this huge 50ft. long “yellow banana boat” completely lost control and was heading straight towards us. The wind was blowing very strong at about 40 to 50 knots. Joe had to hurry and swing the boat around to avoid it and we ended up right in between two huge cruise ships. This is a really bad place to end up by the way!  In the process of trying to get out of there we almost ended up in the sand up on the beach. Miraculously, we finally ended up back in the channel where we needed to be and made it to the marina. Another one of those great trips with Joe…HA!!! We sailed lots of the islands south of Nassau: the Eleuthera Islands, Stanley Key, and many others. Then we sailed north to Marsh Harbor, Harbor Island with the beautiful lighthouse, and about 4 other islands. Lots of things happened but nothing too horrible. However, we did have to buy at least 3 or 4 dinghies while on this adventure. We had lots of fun while exploring around on our sailboat. We enjoyed swimming, eating at lots of nice restaurants, shelling, and just being together. Joe loved his boat and his trips but I loved Joe. There were lots of other death defying experiences like when we headed back to the United States and our engine filled up with water and the Coast Guard had to come and follow us in to make sure that we didn’t sink. Shortly after that we ended up in Marathon. And then shortly after that trip we sold the boat in Dunedin and moved into Briar Creek in Safety Harbor, FL. This has been our wonderful home for the past 18 years. Joe and I lived here happily together and have enjoyed Briar Creek very much. I still live here and am thankful for all of our friends in Briar Creek during this time and always. Thank you and God Bless! With all my love, Jackie.

Joe will be laid to rest with a private ceremony at Bay Pines National Cemetery, Bay Pines, FL.