Joey

On Sunday morning, February 1st, everyone’s heart was broken to pieces after finding out about the death of Joey Demarco. “Joey was like a 2nd dad to me,” said Erik Kelly, a junior at Eastview High School. "This tragedy has impacted so many people like you couldn’t imagine. He was a great man that kept his word to any problem or situation and would do anything to help out friends and family. I was at their house practically every day knowing that I was welcome in their home at anytime no matter what day it was. There has been several times where Joey has allowed family friends or whomever he may know to come and stay at their house if that person is having family issues, or needs a place to stay for a couple days. I mean, I know of people who have stayed there for over a 3 week period and Joey would put food on their plate every single night and give him a bed to sleep in until it was time for that person to leave.”

Joey was born in 1959, and raised in Brooklyn, New York as a full blooded Italian. Like Rocky Balboa, Joey was introduced to boxing and became a golden glove boxer at the age of 23. Not only was he tough, he was very loving as well. Besides being married to his wife Lucielle, he also has 6 kids. 2 girls, Noel & Jillian, and 4 boys by the name of: Nick, Michael, Anthony and Joe. Also known as, "The DeMarco's," there will never be a family who holds their name as well as this one. Austin Nelson, a junior at Eastview say's, " I dont know of one person that hasnt heard the name DeMarco. If you bring up the name DeMarco in a conversation they will know who you are speaking of. I've known the DeMarco family since I was a kid. Every time I went to their house they treated me like I was appart of the family and as if I were to live there."

Joey was in the hospital for about 1 month. Nick DeMarco and I are good friends and went to visit him quite often. At first, he was in the Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville. After about 2 weeks he then was transfered to Fairview Sothdale in Edina to get surgery because they had to take out his pacemaker, which was causing a bad staff infection. After the surgery the staff infection didnt go away. The last time I saw Joey was the Saterday night before he passed away. He looked and acted like he was in good condidtion. That night, before Nick and I were about to leave, the nurse came to the waiting room where we were all sitting and said "Joey would like to see Anthony and Kristen" because they were leaving that night to go back to Arizona where they live. They got to the room and Joey told them that he didnt think he was going to live much longer and didnt want them to leave. Anthony and Kristen were only going to be gone a couple days to grab more clothes, check up on the house and there dog and whatnot. On Sunday morning, that next day, I wake up to my phone ringing at about 6:30 A.M. I answer the phone and it was Nick crying. Right as I'm about to ask what was wrong he interupts and says, "My dad died." I was in complete shock and was speechless not knowing what to say or how to respond. Later on that day at the DeMarco household, I asked Gavrel Telkov, a Junior at Eastview High School, "What was running through your head when you found out about Joeys death?" In response he said, "All I know is that he was pretty much my second dad. I cant beleive im standing here in his house, knowing I will never see him in this house ever again." Thats when the tears started rolling down my eyes. Friends and family were standing around talking about Joey and how much of a wonderful man he was and how much he will be missed. R.I.P. Joey DeMarco.