February, 2008

Roy Joe Baxter, everyone calls him Joe, has been singing for over 70 years and he’s very very good at it.

Baxter went off to fight in WWII as a member of the Army’s 9^th Military Police and served in the European Theatre.  While serving, he was in England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany and Austria.  His professional singing career started in Europe when he met Otis Knippers of Lawrenceburg, TN. and joined “The Melody Boys” quartet along with Gaskell Warren and Marshall Jones.  You might have seen or heard about Jones – he eventually became Grand Pa Jones of the TV show “HeeHaw”.  They sang on the “Armed Forces Network”.

Although he was born in Akron, OH., he grew up in Leoma, TN. which is close to Lawrenceburg, TN.  After leaving the service after WWII he returned home and was asked to join the Daniel Quartet and sing bass.  The Quartet sang at the WSM radio station in Nashville and eventually moved to Memphis where they sang at WREC, which was located in the Peabody Hotel.

This is where a pretty dark-headed young lady came into Joe’s life.  Dollie Estella Kyle was working in a coffee shop next door.  At this time, 1946, Joe had moved on to Raleigh, NC. where he sang with the Blue Ridge Quartet and the Lone Star Quartet.  But Dollie was never out of his mind and so he returned to Memphis to claim her hand and they were married in Hernando, MS on August 18, 1947.

After a stay in North Carolina, they moved back to Memphis looking for work.  Dollie got on at Kimberly Clark and Joe began driving a city bus.  But after four and a half years he left the bus company and went to work for Memphis Light Gas and Water.  He worked his way up to the position of District Supervisor and had 50 line clearing crews, 6 electric line construction crews, 6 electric underground crews, 2 street repair crews, 2 line inspection crews, 5 grounds maintenance crews, 2 transmission ROW maintenance crews, 2 street light crews, various maintenance crews plus helicopter inspection contracts – in short one awesome responsibility.  His budget was $20,000,000 per year. Of his work he said, “when I retired I left behind a career that only a few have the privilege of having – I guess this old boy from Leoma was lucky”.  He would eventually retire from MLG&W after 38 years in 1990.  HE and Dollie did not have any children but did adopt a beautiful little girl whom they named Naomi. 

Baxter loves to play Golf and is a member at Greens at Irene Country Club.  He’s had 2 hole-in-ones.  In his travels around the country he plays golf wherever he can.

Joe started bowling in the mid-50’s but in the early 70’s he bowled in one of the largest leagues in the city, the MLG&W League at Cherokee Lanes.  He quit bowling for 15 years but both Dollie and Naomi loved to bowl and they finally convinced Joe to get back in the sport. 

Joe currently bowls in 5 leagues, mostly at Winchester but also at Imperial, and carries a solid 190-200 average and is a very tough competitor.  His high series is 769, shot just recently, and he’s had one 300 game. 

But, for the past 70 years, his first love has been singing. 

He has just recently fulfilled a life long dream of cutting his own solo CD and now he has 5 CDs of Country music to his credit.  At 81 years of age, he still has a velvety bass voice. 

Roy Joe Baxter is the kind of man that you can’t help but like.  He grows on you and you can’t get past his sense of humor or his quiet dignity without being impressed.  He’s easy-going and liable to break out with a tune when you least expect it. 

But that’s what a crooner does.