Joe MacPhail 1944 - 2010

On Sunday, February 28, 2010, Joe MacPhail, an avid supporter of the OTCL Ghost Walk, passed away at the age of 65. Joe lived in the Western Branch area of Chesapeake, and had been an active contributor to the Portsmouth community.

Joe’s passion was history, and he was a Civil War reenactor. For decades, year after year, Joe played the Union soldier on the Ghost Walk tour who told us the Mike Hardy story. I suspect, but don’t know, that Joe was instrumental in getting his Civil War reenactor friends to participate in the Ghost Walk from the very start. At the very least, according to Susan Hansen, he was the contact, again I’m talking every year for decades, who took the lead and made sure that we always had the Civil War reenactors to play their many and various roles in order to make the Ghost Walk the wonderful success that it is.

The time and organizational effort Joe spent in this endeavor over the years is probably incalculable. Perhaps at the next OTCL meeting a resolution expressing our gratitude to Joe could be passed which then could be sent to the family. Joe was a fine fellow, and he will be greatly missed by those of us who were lucky to be counted among his friends.

Greg Pomije
March 3, 2010