Obituary of Joel Washington

Major Joel Washington (Ret.) died peacefully on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at the age of 84 in Las Vegas Nevada. Although, he had spent years living in the following states throughout his life: Tennessee, California, Maryland, Florida, and Texas. Old town Las Vegas, Nevada was where he called home since the early 1990's. Joel was born in Nashville, TN on August 3, 1928 and he was one of eight children. His parents were the late Francis Alfred and Mary Nell Koester. He was also preceded in death by his brothers Francis Whiting (Bo), Alan, Robert Howell, and sisters Marjorie Jean Jenks and Emily Brown. He is survived by his sisters Barbara (Sis) Dismukes and Katherine (Kate) Washington. His four children William Hunter Washington, Monica Lee Simmons, Stephanie Dickson, Marcella Bonner, and his seven grandchildren: Holly, Amber, Alex, Emily, Rachel, Bianca and Giovanna. Major Joel graduated from Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville and attended Vanderbilt University. He served in the Navy and made a career serving our country in the United States Marine Corps. He served with the first Marine Aircraft Wing in Korea in 1951-1952. He has served at a variety of duty stations a few of which included: Camp Lejeune, Camp Pendleton, 29 Palms, Quantico, San Diego, Cherry Point, Parris Island, Japan, San Francisco, Okinawa, Fort Sill, Okla., and the Great Lakes, Ill. He retired from the Marine Corp in 1968 after 22 years of service. He had a love for politics and history. He enjoyed reading anything he could get his hands on and was very accomplished with knowledge of just about any subject. Always eager to get to know people and learn what they were about, he never met a stranger. With an amazing gift of making people feel welcome, he told wonderfully engaging stories. He was generous with his spirit and consistently looked out for the underdog. He had a love for animals and had a big heart when it came to looking out for them. The family will receive visitor at Woodfin Funeral Chapel in Murfreesboro, TN on Sunday, November 18th from 1pm-2:30pm. Grave side services at Washington Cemetery on Manson at 3pm. In lieu of flowers we would like to ask you to donate to an animal shelter of your choice in his honor.