Joseph Theodore Schlacks III
Nov 18, 1940 – Aug 9, 2001
Joseph was born in Morenci, Michigan to Albert and Isabella (Capp) Schlachs, sibling to three brothers and three sisters. In 1958, at 18 years of age, he joined the Navy. He wed Marjorie Elizabeth Kinzey, and together had their first child, Lyle Perry Schlacks, in 1968. Deciding that Naval service was too much time away from family, he retired from the Navy as a Machinist’s Mate First Class (MM1), after a service of 10 years. Shortly after being honorably discharged from the Navy his daughter, Nina Schlacks, was born in 1969. At the time he was working as a machinist for the Geodetic Survey mapping the ocean floor. More time at sea than the Navy eventually took its toll on his marriage, and resulted in a divorce in 1972. Joe switched vocations after that and worked as an auto mechanic in Washington, California, and Texas. While in Texas, he started an appliance repair business in 1981 which thrived until hurricane Alicia hit the Gulf Coast, destroying the business. So, he packed up and went to Florida and began work in appliance repair. Eventually Joseph ended up in Arizona, where he was closer to his 3 sisters. Here he picked up the treasure hunting bug, and Joseph and nephew Jay Kaiserman- with gold in his sights- worked a placer claim, until his the chemical exposure from his Naval service in Vietnam caught up with him, along with prostate cancer and asbestosis related COPD at the age of 50. He beat the cancer- but not before it took it’s toll. Joseph lost a lot of weight, and was never able to regain it. His strength remained decreased for the remainder of his life, until he was taken in his sleep, under his sons care, from COPD in Oak Harbor, Washington. He will be greatly missed.