Life Story: Joe Freppert
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- When we lose someone we love, it is often the stories we have to tell about them that offer the most comfort.
With that in mind, WCCO wants to give you a chance to share your loved one's story.
It is a way to put the spotlight on an average person most of us have never met, but one who made a lasting impression.
Joe Freppert was 56 years old when he died three weeks ago. But it is his love of music his family will never forget.
But music was just one of many things that made this St. Paul's man's Life Story such a memorable one.
Joe taught himself how to play the guitar when he was a child. Tammy Morkassel is his ex-wife.
"He could hear a song and go, 'Hmmmm,' and then do it, without having to see the music, he could play," Tammy said.
As an adult, Joe performed with local bands. As a parent, he played for his three kids -- a lot. Kristen Boettcher is Joe's daughter.
"When I was in third grade, I told my whole music class that my dad wrote 'Do You Hear What I Hear?'" Kristin said. "He would always play these Christmas songs and I thought that he wrote that."
Joe could also build things, and after studying a "how-to" book on construction, he built his own cabin in western Wisconsin.
"We bought a book, and I read the book to him as he built [laughs]!" Tammy said. "We'd sit outside in the dirt and the kids would play."
Joe met his second wife, Jackie, years after his divorce.
"I did something I normally don't do. I'm not an overly-forward person, but I gave him the head-nod to come over," Jackie Freppert said.
She says she loved how much he loved his kids.
"He leaves me with a wonderful family that I didn't have before him, so now I get to, I say experience Joe yet through his kids, and be able to have a part of him," Jackie said.
Joe's son, Jerome, also plays the guitar for his church and a local band.
"When I was 15, he gave me another guitar for my birthday and I started playing, and I haven't stopped since," Jerome said.
He says his dad owned more than a dozen guitars.
"I can remember multiple conversations that we've had about each and every one of them," Jerome said.
The family says Joe's sense of humor was priceless.
"Even when he was sick just recently, he was making jokes to the nurse as she came in. He called the nurse 'The Thing That Won't Go Away,'" Jerome said.
Joe's family says he was also a lifelong Minnesota Twins fan, but it was a complicated relationship. He wanted them to win, but was certain they would lose each game.
In the last year, as his health declined, Joe still did volunteer work. He was a tutor to high school students who were learning how to play the guitar.
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