Frank Joseph "Joe" Sharpe

Frank Joseph "Joe" Sharpe passed away Sunday, July 21, 2024, at his home in Clover, South Carolina, surrounded by his Wife, Son, Daughter-in-law and Cousin.

Funeral Services will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, July 27, 2024, at South Gastonia Church of God, 310 Carolina Ave, Gastonia, NC, with Bobby L. Gilley, Pastor Emeritus and Pastor Adrian Franklin officiating.

Receiving for Family and Friends will be in the church at 10 a.m. Pallbearers will be his son, nephews, and church members. The Committal Service burial will be conducted by the US Air Force at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday July 30, 2024, at the Fort Jackson National Cemetery, 4170 Percival Rd, Columbia, SC. Parking at the cemetery is limited, and not available until 12:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org) or the Air Force Museum Foundation (www.afmuseum.com/givenow).

Survivors include wife Emily Lou (Mashburn) Sharpe, son Curtis Lamar Sharpe and daughter-in-law Megan Catherine Adams of Marshall, NC, brothers: Richard Cribb (Nancy) Sharpe of Hemingway, SC, Clinton Albert Sharpe of Columbia, SC, John Robbie (Polly) Sharpe of Columbia, SC, Haskell Bernard Sharpe of York, SC and Oral Roberts "Pokey" Sharpe of Swansea, SC; sister Carolyn Lee Sharpe of North, SC; a large number of close cousins, nieces and nephews; and sister-in-law Loretta (Wray) Sharpe.

Joe is preceded in death by his sister Mary Ann Brown (Sharpe) and brother-in-law Johnny Brown of Cayce, SC, brother Charles Aaron Sharpe of Columbia, SC, and sister-in-law Louise (McCarter) Sharpe of York, SC.

Born on June 2, 1939, in North, South Carolina, he was the son of the late Barney Albert Sharpe and Birdie Mae (Johnson) Sharpe of Swansea, SC. Joe was very intelligent, logical, inquisitive, interested in learning almost anything, funny, kind, gentle, empathetic, emotionally reserved, calm, generous, determined, hardworking, and often held two and even 3 jobs at the same time. Joe was a voracious reader, from Zane Grey and Louis La'Amour westerns, Ian Fleming James Bonds, History, and technical works to Nora Roberts and Science Fiction (he introduced his son to Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter Warlord of Mars series.)

Joe enjoyed new experiences and was always eager to have the latest technology. He was an avid player of poker, cribbage, chess and video games. He had a passion for riding motorcycles, racing stock cars, photography, bowling, and woodworking. He was good at everything he did. He won many contests, tournaments and awards. He placed 1st in the Roadway Package System (later FEDEX) Tractor Trailer Rodeo, achieved Million Miler Driver status multiple times, and designed a new innovative tool that a major woodworking company implemented.

Joe grew up as a sharecropper plowing with a mule and joined the United States Air Force age 17. He served 23 years on five continents, including year-long tours of duty in Libya; the Arctic (Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site); Vietnam (Tet Offensive Ground Combat Veteran), earning the Lt. Gen. Gordon A. Blake Aircraft Save Award twice; and the Arctic (Galena Forward Operating Location.) He was a Technical Sergeant (TSgt) Paratrooper jump qualified member of the 5th Special Forces with Top Secret security status and attached to the 101st airborne division. He also served at AFTAC (nuclear detonation detection program), the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Air National Guard, and was a Meteorologist with several Air Force Weather Squadrons.

Upon retirement from the military in 1979, Joe founded the transportation company "Blackhawk Enterprises", which he grew into a fleet of tractor trailers contracted with FedEx. Truck drivers all over the country knew him and Emily by their CB handles "Tenderfoot" and "Mimi".

Joe deeply loved his large extended family. Mom and I are so proud of and full of respect for this remarkable human being, Husband and Father, who created such a wonderful life for us, and the dignified way he conducted himself, and lived.