Joseph Carson, proud of his Irish roots

IT WAS in 1989 that Joseph T. Carson made his first visit to Ireland, the land of his ancestors, and it turned out to be an intense emotional experience.

"We visited the family farm, still operated by a Carson, and I told my father to take a little walk with me," said his son, Timothy J. Carson, who had been there before.

"At the corner of the property was a small hut that might have once had a thatched roof. I told my father that was where his father had lived with his parents and 11 siblings.

"It no longer had a roof, and we stood inside looking up at that blue Irish sky, and we just hugged each other."

Joseph Carson inherited the Irish temperament, wit and devotion to hard work and duty from those hardy people who worked the Irish land for generations.

He was a retired chemical-company executive and World War II Navy pilot, and, as his family put it, one of the rapidly disappearing members of the "Greatest Generation."

He died Thursday of complications of prostate cancer. He was 85 and lived in Haverford.

His father, Timothy I. Carson, left the family's tenant farm in County Fermanagh at age 20 and joined a brother in Philadelphia. He married the former Rosemary Fealy and ran an ice company in West Philadelphia.

His son, Joseph, grew up in Lansdowne and graduated from St. Joseph Preparatory School. He went on to the University of Pennsylvania, but his college career was interrupted by World War II. He enlisted in the Navy and trained as a pilot at Pensacola, Fla.

He was assigned to the Pacific Theater, where he flew the PBY2, a bomber capable of landing on and taking off from water. He was decorated for flying combat missions for the invasion of Okinawa.

Although, like many World War II veterans, Joe didn't talk much about his experiences, he did recount one scary moment when a Japanese kamikaze plane crashed into a ship that he was on that was carrying ammunition and fuel. Fortunately, the explosives on the plane failed to detonate or Joe would not have made it back home.

Discharged in 1945, he returned to Philadelphia to work in his father's ice business. After his father's death, he took over the company.

In the mid-'50s, he bought W.B. Severn Inc., a chemical company specializing in refrigerant gases. After it merged with Tanner Industries, he continued to run the operation until his retirement in 1993.

Joe had a competitive nature.

"He believed that life is competition, but do it so that you enjoy the competition," his son said. "He loved to compete, but he thought it was important to consider what your opponent thought of you."

The family enjoyed visiting a cabin on Porter's Lake, in the Poconos. His father built a boathouse on the lake and named it Glendalough, after a town in County Waterford, in Ireland.

The family competed in what they called the "Glendalough Games." One of the contests was who could catch the biggest large-mouth bass.

One day, Joe, who could not suppress his mischievous side, pulled out an odd-looking bass. It was just over the legal limit, but not by much.

"We put in on the scale and it weighed three pounds," Timothy said. "We couldn't believe a fish that size could be so heavy."

Dad waited expectantly for his secret to be revealed. He had stuffed the fish with stones.

"He wanted us to find him out," Timothy said, "to let us know how clever he was. We laughed about that for years."

His wife of 43 years, the former Marian Maloney, died in 1991. He later married Mary Joan Doyle.

The second marriage brought together two large Irish families. Joseph and Marian had a boy and four girls and Mary Joan had a girl and four boys.

"We were like the Brady Bunch," Timothy said.

Joseph enjoyed trapshooting and was a past president and honorary member of the Atlantic Indians Trapshooting Association.

He was also an excellent golfer and former member of the board of St. Davids Golf Club, in Wayne. He also belonged to the Pine Tree Golf Club, in Boynton Beach, Fla., and the Oyster Harbor Golf Club, on Cape Cod.

Joe was also a member of the Philadelphia Seniors Golf Association, the Philadelphia Chemical Club and the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.

He was a longtime volunteer for Meals on Wheels and the Catholic Charities Appeal. He sang on the choir of St. John Neumann Church, in Bryn Mawr.

Besides his wife and son, he is survived by four daughters, Kit Carson-Brennan, Marian Galardy, Christine Loesche and Rosemary Schafer; four stepchildren, Katharine White and John, Jeremiah and Richard Doyle; a sister, Bernadette Guzewicz; 28 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by another stepson, Stephen Doyle.

Services: Memorial Mass 10:30 a.m. today at St. John Neumann Church, Radnor Road and Highland Lane, Bryn Mawr. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St. Joseph Preparatory School, c/o Development Office, 1733 Girard Ave., Philadelphia 19130.