Please send details you would like shared with Joe's family and loved ones to policorofamily@gmail.com. The stories and memories shared will be added here as the family has time to update the site.

Joe was born in Morristown, New Jersey, on April 11, 1954, to Vito and Elizabeth “Betty” Policoro. He was the only boy of four children. Joe shared stories of epic snowball fights with his sisters and frequent meals with his extended Italian-American family. In youth, he described himself as a high schooler who was friends with everyone and loved hearing other people's stories.

After high school, Joe moved to Michigan to attend Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He was active in his fraternity, Alpha Theta Chi (Centurions) and as secretary he loved incorporating humor into the official meeting minutes. His love of comedy grew with Monty Python, Star Wars and Mel Brooks films that he enjoyed with his friends. In 1977, he graduated with degrees in both Religion and Philosophy and started Seminary at Western Theological Seminary that fall. While at Hope College, he met the love of his life, Katherine, while working at Pizza Hut. They were married in May 1978.


In June of 1980, Joe and Katherine moved to Edgerton, Minnesota where he was a student Pastor at the First Reformed Church. Their first daughter, Rebekah Joy, was born that August. The family returned to Holland where Joe completed Seminary in the spring of 1982. Their second daughter, Tamara Grace, was born in August of 1982. 

After college, Joe, Kathy and their two girls built a life in western Michigan. Joe was ordained with the United Church of Christ and was called to serve ministries in Bangor (1983-85), Stanton (1986-88), and Northport (1988-1996), Michigan. Joe's longest ministry was with Trinity Church in Northport, where he gave back to the community as a volunteer EMT, active Lions member, and chartered a community-wide Vacation Bible Camp in the summer.

As a pastor, Joe’s door was always open. When you entered his office, he would immediately ask if you wanted a cup of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. Along with the beverage, he provided a listening ear and open heart. Joe did all things with compassion, empathy, and a healthy dose of humor.

Joe and Kathy had many close friends in this era of their lives and, for years after, would spend time with friends at Mur, where they would enjoy live action and tabletop gaming, and reconnecting with each other. There’s an infamous story about how one summer, during a game of “Calvinball,” Joe used a young Tami as a shield to deflect the ball. Joe and Kathy would return from Mur with stories of their time with old friends and new games to share for years to come.

Joe excelled at showing love for his family through his acts of service, like the times they surprised Tami with a birthday ice cream cake at Baskin Robbins or threw an elaborate Star Trek murder mystery party for Bekah. Even when the girls were teenagers, he would happily drive them and their friends to the mall and read a book at the food court while the girls shopped.

Joe enjoyed going to the theater at Interlochen Center for the Arts and would often burst into “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” from Pirates of Penzance. He instilled a love of musical theater in Tami and a love of tabletop gaming in Bekah. His bookshelves were bursting with sci-fi and fantasy novels that he would freely let friends borrow.

In 1996 Joe was diagnosed with a large pituitary tumor. The initial life expectancy provided by doctors was less than a year. Luckily, he underwent special treatment at the University of Michigan, allowing him to spend almost 30 years proving his first doctors wrong. 

Thanks to this gift of prolonged life, Joe was able to walk both of his daughters down the aisle and spend time with all four of his grandchildren. 

Joe and Kathy moved to Bozeman, MT in 2017 to be closer to Tami.  They were able to buy a small home and get the support they needed to settle into a routine that met their needs. He celebrated several holidays with his wife, daughters, grandchildren and family. Joe started Dialysis in 2018 and he loved to joke with the center team. When they asked him if needed anything, he would often reply that Chocolate Mousse would be great. There was even one day that he walked to Olive Garden to get Chocolate Mousse as a treat for team at dialysis center the next day.

In 2022, Joe's health took another down turn. Joe and Kathy moved to Colorado in 2022 to be closer to Bekah and get added care they both needed. He continued to love to make people smile and laugh.

Joe taught us to find humor in all situations, whether it was an outdoor wedding in the pouring rain or yet another visit to his doctors. Friends from college have said that being near him was like being in a Monty Python sketch. He instilled a love (or hatred) of a good (bad) pun in those who knew him. Joe was around, you would laugh (or groan) the entire time. He always aimed to leave those close to him smiling.