Celebrating Joe Dobbs’ Nativity

#242 / Flood Time Capsule: 2004

Joe Dobbs, who would have turned 89 today, was the first of The Flood’s tribal elders to reach 70, and that seemed like reason enough for a big party.

On the eve of Joe’s 2004 birthday, on a bright, summer Saturday, we called friends and family to the party’s venue, the backyard of Joan and Sam St. Clair’s house in Huntington’s South Side.

“We saw Joe smile a year’s worth of smiles that day,” Charlie told his mom in an email the nest morning. “The party was pretty much organized by Edwina Zeigler and got rolling at 2. People came in from all over, from down the street and from a half dozen different states!”

Rog Samples rode his motorcycle in from Mount Sterling, Ky. Buddy Griffin drove in Glenville, WV. Many others came in from Charleston and Ashland.

“We must have had about 75 people and lots a music,” Charlie said in the email. “In fact, we had constant music from about 2:30 to 5, with all the musicians taking turns on center stage.”

Pickers on hand — beside the Floodsters and Buddy and Rog — were Rob McNurlin, Doug Imbrogno, Wendell, Linda and Andrew Dobbs of the Irish band, Blackbirds and Thrushes.

Besides the Picking…

And we had some surprises for Brother Joe.

At one point, Michelle the Chick Singer, dressed up as Marilyn Monroe, complete with blonde wig, did her own “Happy Birthday, Mister President” number.

Later Edwina dressed in her flapper outfit with boa and danced to one of our jug band swing tunes.

The Hula Dancers

"But the absolute highlight of the afternoon was the party's surprise hula dancers,” Charlie said in his email to his mom.

“Edwina order three grass skirts and coconut bras for Sam, Bub and Dave. With Hawaiian music playing on the CD player, the three pranced out and danced around Joe. Pretty amazing.”

And of course, images like that don’t easily leave the memory. In fact, four or five years later, hula dancing Floodsters occasionally entered the conversation, as illustrated by this bit of banter at the Flood jam in 2008:

Food, Glorious Food

And no one went home hungry. Sharon Pressman, a professional caterer, was in the crowd and brought an amazing spread. Bub and Yvonne Ball, also professional caterers, answered the challenge with their own delicious offerings.

Following the do, Joe and his sister Lucille, visiting from Mississippi for the party, took off for a week together touring Washington, DC, with wonderful memories of how much Joe was loved back home in West Virginia.

If you want to see more of Pamela Bowen's pictures from Joe’s 70, you can dig back into the Internet’s dusty archives by clicking the button below: