About Me

BORN IN GASTON COUNTY, NC IN 1935 JUST AS THIS COUNTRY WAS

COMING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION. THE SECOND CHILD OF

JOHN FRED FRIDAY SR AND VIRGINIA CANSLER QUINN. BORN TO

PARENTS WHO TOOK HIM TO CHURCH AS A CHILD, WHERE BELIEF

IN GOD WAS INSTILLED AT AN EARLY AGE.

ATTENDED PUBLIC SCHOOL IN DALLAS, N. C., GRADUATING FROM

OLD DALLAS HIGH SCHOOL IN 1954, WHERE PLAYING VARISITY

BASKETBALL, DRIVING A SCHOOL BUS, STUDIES IN FUTURE FARMERS

OF AMERICA AND NANCY WERE HIS FAVORITE SUBJECTS.

HE ATTENDED BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE FOR ONE YEAR.

IN MAY OF 1953 THE AIR NATIONAL GUARD CAME CALLING SO BY

GRADUATION A YEAR IN THE MILITARY HAD PASSED. THE NC ANG

RECRUITED JOE FOR FULL TIME EMPLOYMENT AND HE STAYED FOR

13 YEARS.

TWO WEEKS AFTER NANCY RATCHFORD FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL IN

1956 SHE AND JOE WERE MARRIED ON JUNE 17^TH. THAT MARRIAGE

HAS PRODUCED FOUR CHILDREN AND EIGHT GRAND CHILDREN.

THE SALES FIELD CALLED AND JOE TOOK TO THIS NEW CAREER AND

NEVER LOOKED BACK. JOE’S FIRST SALES JOB WAS IN LIFE

INSURANCE, THEN INDUSTRIAL SEWING THREAD, ( THAT TOOK HIM

AND FAMILY TO DALLAS, TEXAS, LITTLE ROCK, ARK., AND FINALLY

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. ) JOE AND FAMILY RETURNED HOME TO DALLAS,

N. C. AND JOE WENT TO WORK IN SALES AT TAR HEEL FORD IN 1984.

JOE’S SALES POSITION AT TAR HEEL FORD LASTED 18 YEARS THE

FIRST TIME. AFTER 18 MONTHS IN RETIREMENT HE WAS ASK TO

RETURN TO THE SALES OFFICE FOR ANOTHER YEAR AND HALF.

DURING JOE’S TIME AT TAR HEEL FORD HE MADE MANY LASTING

FRIENDSHIPS THAT REMAIN TODAY.

JOE’S NOT BASHFUL ABOUT HIS LUTHERAN HERITAGE AND HIS

MEMBERSHIP IN THE LUTHERAN CHURCH WHERE HE TAUGHT AN

ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS FOR TEN YEARS.

JOE’S INTEREST IN PRESERVING SOME OF THE HISTORY THAT

SURROUNDS HIS FATHER’S EARLY LIFE AND THEN HIS WORKING

YEARS HAVE BECOME A CHALLENGE TO FINISH BEFORE THEY ARE

LOST FOREVER.

JOE AND NANCY LIVE IN THE DENVER, NORTH CAROLINA AREA.

This site was last updated 07/06/07