No average Joe: Rochester turns out to pay its respects to a very special man

MURAL OF MEMORIES: Dozens of images of Joe Hooper adorn a wall display at Edgerly's Funeral Home on Friday. (Rochester Voice photo)

ROCHESTER - We knew Joe Hooper loved to ride around on his trike, tell jokes and make people laugh.

Now we know he also liked to play the air guitar, sing like Elvis and dance up a storm.

"Oh, he loved to dance," said Becca Barrett of Rochester.

Barrett was one of more than 150 friends, family and devotees who gathered at Edgerly's Funeral Home to fondly remember and pay their respects to Rochester icon Joseph W. Hooper, who died on July 28 after suffering a stroke earlier in the month. Joe was 75

By Friday a Go Fund Me page dedicated to raising money for his funeral had already eclipsed its $10,000 goal.

Hooper, who was severely burned as a child while saving his sister from their burning home, had always told his adoptive family he didn't want to be cremated.

Thanks to the generosity of area citizens, he will get his wish.

Robert Talbot, who now lives in Lebanon, Maine, said he knew Joe well growing up on Maple Street in Rochester.

"He'd come down on his trike and pop in to see my mom all the time," he said while watching a slide show of images from Joe's life.

Talbot said Joe's trike was a huge hit with his nieces and nephews, to the point that his mom bought a big trike they could ride, too.

"They'd be riding the trikes around, and there'd be kids in the baskets and everything," he recalled with a smile.

Talbot said a Celebration of Life for Joe will be held at the American Legion on Eastern Avenue on Sept. 4. Details are still being worked out.