It’s with a heavy heart I write today. We received news yesterday that Joe Cocquyt, one of the founding brothers of Eagle Pack Pet Foods passed away on Sunday. We have been feeding Eagle since 1992 and in 1993, we took a road trip to Mishawaka, Indiana to tour the Eagle plant. After dinner, Joe’s treat, Joe and his wife, Jodee, graciously invited us to their home for dinner and to watch the Indiana basketball game on their big screen TV. In case you have been asleep for the last half-century basketball is big in Indiana. I don’t remember who they played against, or if they won, but we have felt like family ever since. In 1996 and 2002, the years that Mark ran the Iditarod, Joe personally paid for my round-trip flight from Anchorage to Nome, both times paying over $600! (In 2002, I paid $400 for a round-trip flight from Duluth to Anchorage). While in Nome both years, Joe would take me around and introduce me to everyone he knew in the mushing world, which was alot, and treat me like family. One of my best memories was having lunch at Fat Freddie’s Cafe in Nome with Joe and Charlie Boulding. Charlie is now retired from sled dogs, but if you have ever seen Charlie in an Iditarod news report, you know that he was quite the character. Another favorite memory is dancing with Joe at the Bering Sea Saloon to Hobo Jim’s “I did, I did, I did the Iditarod Trail” and “The Rodeo Song” by Chris LeDoux. Joe would request that song a couple of times a night and since this is a family blog I won’t post his favorite line of that song.
On our first trip to Alaska in 1994, we were Iditarod spectators, traveling with the Eagle Pack entourage. We were able to go to Iditarod champion Martin Buser’s house with the crew and while there a crew was filming a commercial for Timberland boots. They wanted Martin to stand on a dog sled being towed by a snowmobile to film just his boots standing and peddling on the runners. Joe had introduced us to Martin earlier so Martin looked at Mark and said “you’re from Minnesota so you know how to drive a snowmobile”, so if you have a 1994 Iditarod update in your video collection and see the Timberland boot commercial, thanks to Joe, Mark was driving the snowmobile for the commercial. Altough the check must have been lost in the mail!
Also thanks to Joe in 2002 I was able to fly to the Iditarod checkpoint of Nikoli with Joe’s brother Maury. Joe had introduced Mark and I to Maury a couple of days earlier at the pre-race banquet and he new I had never been “on the trail”. While we were only in Nikoli for a couple of hours and I was there about 12 hours ahead of Mark’s arrival, it is another thing I will never forget.
Joe you will be sorely missed by your “family” in northern Minnesota. Joe was one of the first phone calls Mark received congratulating him the year that he won the Beargrease. You were one of our strongest supporters and we will miss the yearly after-race phone calls telling Mark how well he did , even the years he didn’t finish.
Joe is survived by his wife, Jodee, daughter Kirsten, son Kevin and their spouses and children.
Happy Trails Joe.