For over five decades, Joe Michel was a devoted YMCA member and volunteer. He is remembered through his impact on adult swim and scuba programs, his encouragement on the fundraising team, and his positive contributions to the community. Joe’s daughter, Connie Murphy, looks back on her father’s zeal for helping launch adult swimming lessons and living out a lifelong philosophy of contributing his skills and personal passions in ways that help others.
Joe Michel Was a Loyal YMCA Member Who Was Committed to His Family
According to Connie, Joe had long been an athlete and a mountaineer, scaling many prominent mountains throughout the Pacific Northwest. In the early 1970s, Joe and his family first joined the YMCA in Olympia, and thereafter Connie recalls that her family would regularly visit the Y in the evenings after dinner. Connie adds that after she gave her father an aerobics book, Joe also developed a longtime interest in running and jogging, going on to participate in multiple 5K and 10K events.
As a teen, Connie was set to travel to Hawaii for a school choir competition. In preparation for the trip, she and her father took a scuba diving course together. Connie says that it was through this course that her father discovered an enthusiasm for scuba diving. This first experience inspired Joe to earn certificates in Deep Water Diving and PADI Scuba Instruction. Later he would share this passion with others by starting scuba diving lessons in the historic downtown YMCA pool with fellow scuba instructor, Bill Allen. Joe’s love for scuba diving also inspired family travels to faraway destinations, including Cabo San Lucas and Cozumel in Mexico, where Connie and her father would go on diving excursions together.
A short time after retiring from the State of Washington, Joe started work at a consulting firm. His new position took him and his wife, Darlene, across the country from Anchorage, Alaska, to Tampa, Florida. Connie says that although her parents were no longer in the Olympia area during this time, they still continued to seek out a nearby YMCA branch wherever they were staying. Once Joe retired from consulting, he and Darlene returned to Olympia, where Joe signed on to be part of the Y’s master’s swim team.
When he was a new member of the master’s swim team, Joe adopted the role of a student, accepting guidance from fellow aquatics enthusiasts on how he could swim more effectively. Once he was equipped with more experience in the water, Joe wanted to extend that education to other adults who were interested in becoming better swimmers.
Joe Helped Establish Adult Swimming Lessons at the YMCA
Jackie Barratt, YMCA Aquatics Director, first met Joe over a decade ago in her role as youth swim team coach and swim lesson instructor. Eventually, Jackie became a Coordinator at the downtown YMCA and started to manage swimming-related programming and volunteers, including Joe. Jackie looks back on Joe’s friendly demeanor, devotion to the master’s swim team, and how he was a steward for water safety. Joe was also a positive influence and source of support for many at the pool, where he swam many thousands of yards each week.
“As a swimmer himself, he was just incredibly inspiring to so many people,” says Jackie. “And just to see him and his energy in the pool, so consistently being there, was really inspiring to so many people.”
Over time, Joe also started to notice the demand for aquatics education specifically geared toward older swimmers. According to Jackie, there were adults who were interested in being part of the master’s swim team, but needed to build up certain skills to be on par with the rest of the group, and adult swim lessons began when Joe and other members of the master’s swim team took time after their own training to help these new adult swimmers enhance their technique. The adult swimming lessons set in place by Joe continue to this day at the Briggs Community YMCA.
According to Connie, only a handful of YMCA branches across the United States offer formal swimming lessons for adults, and for many adults who took swimming lessons from Joe, his steady and serene teaching style enabled many students to embrace the water for the first time. And when adult swim lessons at the YMCA began to include a wider spectrum of adult swimmers, Jackie admired Joe’s commitment to volunteerism, and a teaching style that enabled each swimmer to believe in themself.
Joe Leaves a Long Legacy of Giving Back to the Community
After Joe’s passing in February 2024, Connie reflects on her father’s service to the YMCA as an example of finding ways to contribute unique interests and talents for the betterment of friends, neighbors and the greater community. At the South Sound YMCA, Jackie and the community will continue to remember Joe’s welcoming demeanor and his drive to be of service wherever there was a call.
“He just wanted to help people wherever he could, and be a person that was just doing all that he could to possibly help someone else,” says Jackie.
The South Sound YMCA is honoring Joe and his legacy of service through The Community Foundation’s Give Local Campaign this month. From November 11 through 22, 2024, community members can visit the Give Local platform and make a gift in honor of Joe. Donations will support the fund that he raised funds for each year, ensuring all Y programs are accessible to kids, families, and adults across our region. A small ceremony and unveiling of a memorial plaque in Joe’s honor is also planned for early November. For more information, please contact Sarah Clinton at clintons@ssymca.net.
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