ForeverMissed
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This site was created in lieu of a formal memorial service in remembrance of a very special person in our lives, Joe Kimm, 102, who made his final flight west on September 19, 2013.

August 18, 2022
August 18, 2022
Missing you, Dad! I think of you and and light a candle in my heart...you taught me so much; you led the way.....you were such an inspiration. Thank You....ME
August 18, 2018
August 18, 2018
Dearest Dad, 107 today......Not sure you would like to have been 107. You were happy just to be 100. so many people wonder where I get my "zest for life" from...........of course it is from you! You always talked about being stubborn, and that is what got you through....well, I guess I would now have to say the same thing. What a tremendous roll model you were. Thank you for that. A late in the day Happy Birthday! Loved you! Me your second born. Kip
August 18, 2018
August 18, 2018
Joe, thinking of you today, as I do many of my days. I've never forgotten the help you gave me getting started on Northwest Airlines. Nor of the evenings when I was in college, when Bobby and I would come to Bellevue for a weekend, and you and I would sit on the floor in the living room and play Hawaiian songs on your ukulele and my 4-string guitar and sing. Many good memories. Happy Birthday, my friend.
September 19, 2017
September 19, 2017
It's hard to believe it has been four years since Grandy's passing. He was a remarkable man and I miss him.
September 20, 2016
September 20, 2016
Our short stint in Viewcrest was amazing. Uncle Joe was a great guy.I await, with great anticipation, until we meet, again!
September 19, 2016
September 19, 2016
I miss Grandy all the time, but cherish all those years that I got to live close to him and visit more frequently than when I lived further away. I can only hope to live as full of a life as he. I love you Grandy!
August 19, 2016
August 19, 2016
Uncle Joe, (he was my dad's uncle) was a truely, wonderfully, great, man. I await with great anticipation, the day we will enjoy each others company, again!
August 18, 2016
August 18, 2016
Dad was the centering for the Kimm family. It took him a long time to get used to his "roll", but he later took to it very well. he was a lucky man. He had three of his children who lived near him and cared for him both emotionally and physically. We in turn were lucky, as he was hail and hearty (basically) until his end. A toast to you Dad.
September 21, 2014
September 21, 2014
I have lost my Mother, about 21 years ago, and my Father, last Sept. 19th. I don't think hardly a day goes by that I don't remember each of them. I miss having parents. It is so final. I get used to the fact that I no longer travel to Redmond to visit Dad, but it is a mixed blessing. He was such an anchor in my life, "our lives" (all four of his children). It takes some getting used to, and I haven't quite. Miss you Dad! Kip
September 18, 2014
September 18, 2014
I'm missing you, buddy. Your name and picture still show up on my Skype. I feel bad I can't click on it, but on the other hand, it reminds me of some very good times together.
August 19, 2014
August 19, 2014
Joe, I was thinking about you yesterday when I should have been calling to wish you Happy Birthday. I miss our conversations, but continue to marvel that I had three fathers and mentors: Chuck Viebrock, Joe Kimm and Bob Levitt. You all left a high mark to aim for.
August 18, 2014
August 18, 2014
I miss you Daddy. Have thought about you all day. Hope Heaven is taking great care of you. ❤️
August 18, 2014
August 18, 2014
I miss Grandy and for the way his birthdays brought us together as an extended family. His life truly was worthy of a special celebration and especially each year he was closer to reaching the 100 year mark. We have a special Swedish birthday song we sing in the family that basically translates to "may you live to be 100" and it was especially fun and meaningful to sing to Grandy as he approached and then surpassed that mark. I'm so proud to be his granddaughter and share in his legacy. Missing you, Grandy.
August 18, 2014
August 18, 2014
Thank you, Grandy, for all of the times you have brought us together. This weekend would have been the weekend we'd have all celebrated your birthday. Even though it was the first one you missed, some of us had rather coincidentally come together anyway and we thought of you as we still do so very often. Then yesterday, I had a call with a gentleman in Ohio interested in putting together a display acknowledging the history of commercial aviation in the U.S. and it was so nice to share some of your stories yet again. Thank you again for all of the passion for life and aviation and all of the love that you have shared.
October 13, 2013
October 13, 2013
Where and how do you start to write about someone so big in your life, who had tremendous influence on who you are? I have avoided it until now, because there are not adequate words to tell someone what another individual has meant to them. Dad was my mentor, throughout my life. He led the way for me to be my own thinker, to tackle difficult tasks and not retreat from them. Love you!
October 1, 2013
October 1, 2013
Joe Kimm played a lot of roles in my life: father-in-law, grandfather to my children, friend, mentor. In 1969, he bid a lousy MAC charter schedule to be sure I could hold the trip. The reason? He and Barbara and I had just completed a SCUBA course and took a dive trip to Cozumel and we needed the time off together. That's a friend! We remained friends to the end of his life.
September 29, 2013
September 29, 2013
Although I never met Joe, I have had the delightful privilege of knowing his wonderful daughter Kip and his grandchildren, Chris, Teresa and Lisa. Kip, I remember you speaking often of your father with much pride and affection. You are all a living legacy reflecting what must have been a remarkable man, father and grandfather. WIth love, Jennifer
September 27, 2013
September 27, 2013
Uncle Joe will always be remembered, and loved, by the time we spent with him in Bellevue’s Viewcrest.. He was always kind, forever warm, and always had time to spend with his nephew’s sons. There will always be a special place in my heart for him. I await, with great anticipation, until we meet again.
September 25, 2013
September 25, 2013
Grandy has always been my hero - as accomplished as he was at so much, he was always finding another way to improve; as intelligent as he was, he focused more and more on showing and gracefully receiving kindness. In all the precious time I spent learning about his life, it was his deep and abiding love for his family, especially his children, and his closest friends that touched me most.
September 25, 2013
September 25, 2013
Joe lived a world of lifetimes and lived it rich and well. He lived what he believed: be dedicated to the right things, do the tough things first, demonstrate accomplishments and don't spend a lot time talking about them. I will remember his taking my brother and I to church, his negiotiating my father's right to fly the 747, and our meets last few years. Nice flight, Joe!
September 25, 2013
September 25, 2013
Grandy set the bar pretty high and I love that he had a verve for life and learning. Skiing well into his 90's, learning to scuba dive after retiring, taking community school classes in his later years and most impressively delivering meals to seniors much younger than he for Meals on Wheels program in his late 90's. So glad I saw him recently one on one. He will be sorely missed.

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Recent Tributes
August 18, 2022
August 18, 2022
Missing you, Dad! I think of you and and light a candle in my heart...you taught me so much; you led the way.....you were such an inspiration. Thank You....ME
August 18, 2018
August 18, 2018
Dearest Dad, 107 today......Not sure you would like to have been 107. You were happy just to be 100. so many people wonder where I get my "zest for life" from...........of course it is from you! You always talked about being stubborn, and that is what got you through....well, I guess I would now have to say the same thing. What a tremendous roll model you were. Thank you for that. A late in the day Happy Birthday! Loved you! Me your second born. Kip
August 18, 2018
August 18, 2018
Joe, thinking of you today, as I do many of my days. I've never forgotten the help you gave me getting started on Northwest Airlines. Nor of the evenings when I was in college, when Bobby and I would come to Bellevue for a weekend, and you and I would sit on the floor in the living room and play Hawaiian songs on your ukulele and my 4-string guitar and sing. Many good memories. Happy Birthday, my friend.
Recent stories

A life well lived

September 27, 2013

During his long life, Joe was a lot of things to a lot of people. But at his very core, Joe was an aviator, in the truest and finest sense of the word. Flying was in his blood. Personally, I can't imagine flying NOT being in anybody's blood, but I'm thankful there actually are people who will sit in the back and pay for the gas, just as I know Joe was thankful for that. For us, life revolves around those moments when we push the go-button and pull the up-stick, when we surmount difficulties, when we're masters of our ships and our fates, when we peg the perfect landings or, at the very least, the ones "we walk away from."

It was my pleasure to nominate Joe for induction into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame a couple of years ago. I was thrilled that he was inducted while he was still around to enjoy the honor and privilege of acceptance into that institution. He is now once again among the ranks of his contemporaries, like Charles "Speed" Holman, Walter Bullock, Mal Freeburg, Chad Smith and others who paved the way for modern aviation, who tamed the skies to make them available and accessible to everyone. These things are taken for granted nowadays, but in the 1920's and 1930's it took a certain breed to reach out and grab that which had not yet been tamed, not yet mastered. To this day, it seems to me the height of audacity to attempt to fly a scheduled airline with aircraft having little more than a whiskey compass and an oil pressure gauge. Yes, that certainly took a certain breed, and it was Joe's fate -- and ultimately, honor -- to be one of that magnificent breed.

It's hard to write much about such a guy when the best words have already been written. Every aviator knows them, and every pilot knows the full meaning of John Gillespie Magee's "High Flight":

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Joe is now wheels up, having left this earth one final time. And word is, there won't be any holding pattern at the final destination. God has him cleared for a straight-in approach. Show 'em how it's done, Joe!

Museum of Flight interview with Joe

September 25, 2013

At the end of May, just a few months before Joe passed, the Museum of Flight in Seattle came out to his home to interview him as part of an oral history project. 

This clip is an update of the one that was shared with the board of directors.

http://vimeo.com/75446215

Last weekend, after my husband Michael and I watched the Electra arrive for their new exhibit, Dan Hagedorn turned to one of the Directors, Anne Simpson, and told her that as great as this clip is, she absolutely must see the rest of the interview.  

I'm told by Peder Nelson that they intend to use a portion of that interview (and based on his description, this clip appears to be the version to be used) as a pushbutton option to go along with temporary exhibit, Finding Amelia, to be installed as part of having the Electra join their collection.

Now we'll have at least two planes at the Museum of Flight with which to remember Joe.  

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