Thursday, November 23, 2017
My Name is Michael Sibley and I am a teacher at the local high school. My family moved to Garnett in 1999 and were struggling as many young families do to make ends meet. With that in mind, I had a lot of things that needed to be replaced or fixed and that I did not have the money to replace. For years, until he had to leave his lawn chair outside of his forge, I would take projects to him to see if he could possibly cobble them back together for me.
The story was always the same - "I don't do that kind of work much anymore" - "you ought to take that over to Nobles" - "I don't know maybe I can give it a try" and try he did, because everything that he ever fixed for me is still together and working today - or was sold in working order.
As a history teacher from another state, Joe was my source of Garnett history. The stories he told came into my ears and out of my mouth as lessons in the classroom. I honestly did not know that he was living in Garnett after he left his home and now regret that I had never looked into it, for if I did, he would have had a steady visitor.
Still, I gave my thanks this Thanksgiving for the little time that I got to spend with Joe. The 3 minutes of welding that he did for me each time I showed up always cost me $3 and he would never take a penny more than the tax he figured on top of it. The 2 hours of stories he share with me before and after the weld was priceless.
