Joseph Lord

Joe was born and raised in Burlington, IA. He married Judy Montgomery in
Denver in 1964. He is survived by wife, Judy, and three children: Lisa Krause
(Gary), Joe Lord III (Jennifer), Megan Lord (Brian), sister Sharon Lord (Doug),
brother Dan Lord (Lorelei), grandchildren: Kailey, Cooper, Max and Joe lV.
Joe attended the University of Iowa and spent his first two college summers as a
ground pounder in Saratoga, WY which qualified him to become a smokejumper
in 1956. He jumped fires out of Missoula, MT. for 3 summers before graduating
as a civil engineer and entering the Army where he fulfilled his service to his
country.
The first 10 years of Joe's professional career began with work for Boeing in 1962.
He went on to work as an agricultural engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation,
and the Agency for International Development in Thailand. 1971 marked his
return to the United States where he and his young family ultimately settled in
Fresno CA. There he established JMLord Inc. which is still in operation today.
Joe was truly a pioneer and visionary in irrigation management in California's
Central Valley, establishing weather stations to determine crop water
requirements for irrigation before the State ever thought of the idea. Eventually,
the State decided that weather stations to help estimate irrigation requirements
would be a great idea and established the California Irrigation Management
Information System (CIMIS). It should probably have been called the "Lord"
system. Today there are well over 100 active CIMIS weather stations throughout
the State.

While Joe was invaluable to the farmers in the San Joaquin Valley, he was the
consummate family man. As his history would suggest, he set a fantastic example
of living and was always a cheerfully willing participant in family events. He had
deep love for his family and could be found most weekends cheering on his
grandchildren from a lacrosse sideline, courtside or pool deck.
Joe had an abiding love of his country and traditional values. Rarely strident, he
led by example. Joe demonstrated his civic mindedness, loyalty, and all-out
toughness in many ways, none as remarkable as his annual trail maintenance with
his smoke jumper buddies. Ten days before his death he was in Rocky Mountain
National Park for a week, busting rock, and hard ground camping.
Joe was an avid Broncos fan and season ticket holder since 1972. Their Super
Bowl victory was certainly fresh in his mind. He had a passion for fishing, hunting
and the great outdoors. He died on his feet in Buffalo Creek, Colorado - a place
he described as heaven.
A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, July 30th at 10:30 am at The Little
Chapel in the Hills, Buffalo Creek, CO. Donations may be made to National
Smokejumper Association http://smokejumpers.com/index.php/donations/get.
"May you always have a good jump spot with no wind."