Obituary for Joe that was published in The Oregonian on Friday, 8/28/2015.

Joseph (Joe) E. Hancock, aka Joseph Carl Olsen Jr.

Age: 70

8/20/1944 – 8/12/2015 

Joe passed away quietly and peacefully at his home in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday, August 12th, 2015 in the arms of his beloved wife of 43 years, Carol, after a year long battle with throat cancer.

Joe was born in Orlando,FL, and as a young child moved with his parents to Californiawhere he grew up with his family inDowney,California. He attended Rancho Santa Gertrudes and St Marianne De Parades grade schools, and then graduated from Don Bosco Technical Institute in 1962. After high school, Joe worked  as a machinist, and then as an auto mechanic before joining the Marine Corps, where he served in First Battalion Platoon 130 at the MCRD in San Diego, California, graduating basic training in 1968, and then stationed at The Marine Corps Air Station in Santa Ana, Ca.

After the Marine Corps, Joe moved to Portland,Oregon, when he ventured into a partnership with a friend and coworker in a chain of service stations there.  InPortland, Joe met and fell in love with his future wife, Carol Hancock.

Joe and Carol led a varied and colorful life, reinventing themselves many times. Joe was a true entrepreneur; he would try any occupation that caught his fancy and at which he thought he could be successful, and he usually was.  If Joe wanted to do something, he got books to learn how to do it, drew up plans, and then set about bringing his plans to life.  He believed that anything worth doing, was worth doing right, and he put his all into everything he did. Joe and Carol moved to Santa Barbarain 1974, built a kiln, did pottery, macramé, and burl wood tables for the Santa Barbara Arts & Crafts Show on the beach every Sunday.  Joe loved the beach and the ocean, and ran on the beach often.  They returned to Portlandin 1977, where they did arts & crafts for the Portland Saturday market.  In the 1980’s, Joe entered into the wild harvest mushroom business, where he managed wild harvest buying stations, designed and built the first state certified portable commercial high capacity mushroom dehydrator in the State of Oregon, and shipped thousand of kilos of dehydrated mushrooms to Canada and Europe. In 1999, while rehabilitating from foot surgery, Joe and Carol took a side job as newspaper carriers, and Joe quickly advanced from carrier, to station opener, to office manager.  In 2001 Joe applied for, and was awarded the position of Independent Distributor for The Oregonian newspaper.  In 2009, Joe was awarded one of the largest Oregonian distributorships in Portland, station #159, which he managed up until the date of his death.

Just as Joe had many occupations in life; he had many interests as well.  As a young man he was interested in automotives, hot rods, motorcycles, and all kinds of sports, including swimming, cross-country, football, boxing, martial arts, and surfing.  He was interested in weapons, especially guns, rifles, knives and swords. Later he developed interests in astrology, meditation, yoga, Eastern and Middle Eastern philosophy and religion, massage and other related therapies such as acupressure, shiatsu, and Rolfing.  Joe always enjoyed weight training, and almost always had weight training equipment in his homes.  In the 80’s, Joe took up and enjoyed skiing.  One of Joe’s passions later in life was studying and collecting wine. His wife, Carol, is skilled as a gourmet cook, and one of their favorite activities together was planning, preparing, and hosting elaborate dinner parties for their friends and family, with sumptuous foods paired with the best wines, and followed up with a night of billiards matches on Joe’s antique pool table.  Joe usually won, he was very competitive.  Joe was artistic and creative.  He had a passion for photography, and enjoyed creating artistic compositions through the lens of a camera.   Recently he enjoyed designing landscaping and architectural features for his beloved, Asian inspired, back yard meditation garden.  His garden was a great source of peace and comfort to him in his final months, weeks, and days.

Joe is survived by his wife Carol, and siblings Marilyn, Daniel, Timothy, Mary, Brian and Kathleen.   

 Private Celebration of Life to be announced.