Uwe "Jose" Joos

Aug 17, 1945 -

Jul 26, 2023

Uwe "Jose" Joos, 77, died with his children at his side on July 26, 2023, in Anchorage, Alaska. Jose, as he was called by his friends and family, was born on Aug. 17, 1945, in Nossen, Germany. Jose was raised in Switzerland, where his family had moved to escape war-torn Germany. He immigrated to Homer, Alaska, with his parents in 1958. Educated in Homer and tutored by Mrs. Bell Benton, a first grade teacher and poet, he graduated from Homer High School in 1965.

The Joos family moved to Kodiak, Alaska, where Jose's father Oscar was a crab fisherman. Jose fished with him until he joined the Navy, where he served as a submariner (1966-1970). In 1969, his diesel submarine the USS-342 Chopper was involved in what is now known as the "Deep Dive" where the submarine suffered a catastrophic event where it sank twice, the second time doubling its crush depth. The submarine returned to port on the surface and was decommissioned.

Jose's parents, Carla and Oscar, and sister, Cindy, disappeared in spring 1972, in the Gulf of Mexico, while bringing home the fishing vessel Katmai, a new crab boat that was built by Bender Shipyards in Mobile, Ala. The Katmai never made it to the Panama Canal and was declared lost at sea. Forty-one years later, in spring 2013, the Katmai was found 200 miles off the coast of Alabama, in 9000 feet of water, by the research vessel Falkor.

Jose met his wife, Jani, on a school bus in the fall of 1970. They were married later that year, on Dec. 23, 1970, in Anchorage. Jose worked as a mechanic until 1973, when he and Jani bought a house with a shop and opened Commercial Truck Repair. Over the years, Jose had many jobs and varied interests: he gold mined in Nome, Alaska; worked on a survey crew; worked on the trans-Alaska pipeline; was a machinist and mechanic; and retired as a truck driver for World Equipment in 2021.

He is survived by his three children, Cathi, Daniel and Elke; 10 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

Wishing you fair winds and following seas on your next adventure Jose.