Victor R. Jose III

RICHMOND, Ind. - Victor R. Jose III (“Vic”) died peacefully in his sleep on Friday December 5, 2014, at Friends Fellowship Community in Richmond, Indiana. He was living there with Faye, his wife of 70 years, as they shared their daily lives and love for each other. On his last day, Vic lived as he approached life. He enjoyed three leisurely meals with Faye, he visited with good friends from the Kiwanis Club, and he made a contribution to the “bird food lady” to help cover the cost of food for the bird feeders that brought joy to Faye and the other residents at Friends Fellowship. Vic was born on March 13, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the second of three children for Victor R. Jose, Jr. and Amy Elliott Jose. He was the surviving member of his family, including older sister, Amy McCuen and younger brother, Elliott Jose. Vic was proud of his heritage and his parents’ active support for and involvement with the art, music, literature, and educational culture that filled their Irvington neighborhood and Indianapolis community. His mother helped organize Orchard School, and his father was a lawyer that provided wise legal and business guidance to many individuals and organizations, ultimately serving as the Marion County Assessor able to bridge sharp political divisions. Vic’s family struggled through the Depression, and a wealthy friend paid for him to attend Orchard starting in 4th grade (taking a space vacated by Kurt Vonnegut, a friend with whom he would closely connect in High School and throughout life). Vic graduated from Shortridge High School in 1940, proud of the excellent college-prep education he received and his opportunity to work on the Echo, the only high school daily newspaper in the country. Vic went to Swarthmore College outside Philadelphia, and soon met Faye Stewart. Their relationship blossomed and they were married on June 3, 1944. Vic graduated early so that he could join the Navy, in which he served as an officer aboard boats that accompanied and protected larger transport ships and battleships. Following the end of the war, Vic and Faye moved to Evanston, where Vic received a Master’s Degree in Journalism. While living there, Vic worked for the prestigious Chicago News Bureau and oldest child, Cindy, was born. Following three years in Evanston, Vic and his young family moved to Logansport, Indiana, where he took a job on the local daily newspaper and sons, Sandy and Jim, were born. After three years in Logansport, the growing family moved to Richmond in 1951, where Vic worked initially for the local daily newspaper and youngest son, David, was born. Richmond would become Vic’s adopted community, and he devoted 63 years of love and commitment to its business, educational and civic life. After a few years at the daily newspaper, Vic’s urge to operate his own newspaper took over. Despite having a large young family, he started the West Side Enterprise as a free circulation weekly newspaper serving the west side of Richmond. Within a few years the newspaper was renamed as The Graphic and expanded to covering all of Richmond as well as other communities in Wayne County and western Ohio. The Graphic distinguished itself as an outstanding example of how a weekly free circulation newspaper could compete by providing good community-oriented reporting, informative columns and opinion pieces, and information about garage sales and classified advertisements. It received many national awards from the National Association of Advertising Publishers, for which Vic was a major national leader. Vic was proud of what The Graphic meant for the Richmond community, and how it elevated local businesses, schools, institutions, and individuals. Vic could also be “determined” (a trait that he inherited from his “free thinking” ancestors that fled oppression in Europe), and was not deterred from expressing his opinion in his weekly “Here and There” columns, including a series about the utility companies in the aftermath of the great downtown explosion of 1968. He was concerned when the NAAP trade association started to accept membership from daily newspapers, so he led a group of like-minded weekly newspapers to establish the Independent Free Papers of America. Vic’s devotion to Richmond extended well beyond The Graphic. He was an active member of Kiwanis for almost 60 years. He helped transform the Wayne County Foundation to focus on educational initiatives to help improve the quality of education for all residents of the county. He was a long-time behind-the-scenes supporter of the Salvation Army, because “they do good work”. He was an organizer and active within the area Chamber of Commerce, and regularly supported initiatives for economic development. Most importantly, Vic would see the long-range impact of issues facing the community. This led him to pursue three initiatives well past his “retirement”. First, he worked to encourage local business throughout the city to “adopt” the public school in their neighborhood. Second, over ten years ago he read early studies about the critical importance of reading skills by third grade. As a result, he enlisted local businessman Rick Ahaus and they raised over $150,000 from a multitude of sources to start the Third Grade Academy, a “literacy boot camp” during the summers to assist all third grade students not reading up to standard test score levels. This is serving as a model for similar initiatives in communities throughout the country. More recently, Vic’s research in his late 80’s revealed that children are dramatically affected by the extent they are read to each day from birth to age 5. This led Vic and Rick to the establishment of the K-Ready program to encourage collaboration between the local hospital and health care agencies along with religious and educational institutions to support their program to get books and reading materials into the hands of all young families. Vic’s death leaves a large hole in the Richmond community for which he devoted so much time and effort up to his final day. His legacy for the community is well-established, and he received many awards from the community, ranging from the Chamber of Commerce to the Wernle Youth and Family Treatment Center. His legacy is also represented and survives through his wife, Faye, and their four children Cindy (husband Hank, children Nick/Kristie and Sarah, and grandchild Everett), Sandy (wife Connie, children Derek/Rachel, Becca and Alida, and grandchildren Lorelei and Reina), Jim (wife Ann and children Daniel and Alex), and David (wife Mimi, children Matthew and Evan, and grandchild Ian). Memorial service for Victor R. Jose will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, December 13, 2014, at First Presbyterian Church, 100 North 10th Street, Richmond with Rev. John Hollis and Rev. Dr. Russell Haitch officiating. The family will be receiving friends following the service. There will also be a reception in the Community Room at Friends Fellowship Community at 1:00 p.m. Sunday, December 14, 2014. Arrangements are being handled by Doan & Mills Funeral Home, 790 National Road West, Richmond. Memorial contributions may be made to: The Third Grade Academy, 33 South 7th Street, Richmond, IN 47374; K-Ready, 33 South 7th Street, Richmond, IN 47374; or a charity of your choice. Condolences may be sent to the family via the guest book at www.doanmillsfuneralhome.com.

Victor R. Jose III

March 13, 1922 - December 5, 2014