Noel Morrison: Jos was really a terrific teacher. I worked closely with him when he was working for Joel Black handling escalations from Customer Care. I was his main contact in Customer Care, so I would talk to Jos about problems our customers were having with web sites. He taught an HTML class for some of us in Customer Care, and he tutored me on the details of certain aspects of the WebTV browser.
He has had such a wonderful impact upon me personally. His joy and happiness was utterly contagious, and not only did he breathe limitless life and creativity into WebTV, but into everyone's world outside of WebTV. I see Jos as a model for how life is meant to be lived -- with intense joy, and always to its fullest.
Jos was really interested in "racing" as many people as possible at the WebTV blood drives. He was always encouraging people to give of themselves, and making it fun at the same time -- Just one of the countless special aspects of his personality.
It was the first time in a while that I had given blood, and I was feeling a little nervous. Jos and I happened to be giving blood at the same time, and, being Jos, he turned giving blood into a race to see who could fill the bag fastest. I was so distracted by trying to bleed harder than Jos, that all my tension went away, and it ended up being a lot of fun. (I think he beat me by a few seconds...)
One of the many things that Jos helped teach me is that there is always an opportunity for laughter and joy.
Anonymous: With recent gatherings of friends and co-workers, I've been constantly reminded of the 'big heart' that Jos had, and how he shared that heart with the people that he met.
But I was reminded recently, by my blood bank, that Jos *gave*, as well as he shared.
I used to donate regularly on my own, but Jos was a vocal advocate for the company blood drives here at Web-TV. Because of his enthusiasm, I changed my schedule, to take part with him and a growing gang from the building he worked in. The last drive in April was my first through Web-TV, and he let me know how glad he was to see me there. :-)
Since I hadn't been donating regularly at my blood bank, they called me, to see if I could come in (since I have one of the rarer types). Because WTV hasn't had a drive since April, I was eligible, and I gave blood this morning, about the same time as Jos being at the gym last week.
If you are looking for a way to honor Jos's memory, and to have a positive effect on other people's lives, let me suggest donating blood through your local blood bank as one way to do this. I'd be happy to discuss the positive experiences I've had with the curious.