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Joseph Belanie Violette, Jr.
1922 - 2017
Resident of Corte Madera
Joseph Violette, aged 95, passed away on September 14, 2017. Joe was born and raised in Independence, Oregon – a small farming community. After High School he attended Oregon State where he was in the ROTC, signed up for the Enlisted Reserves and attended Officers Candidate School before being called to active duty for World War II, interrupting his college studies. Joe served for 4 years, spending time stationed in Okinawa, Japan, rising to the rank of Captain and Commanding Officer of the Engineer Heavy Shop Company.
After returning from military duty, he completed his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State and a Master's degree in Engineering from Yale. After graduation, Joe moved to the Northern California Bay Area. He was able to reconnect with his High School sweetheart Glenna and they began dating again. They were married in 1949 and had 66 wonderful years together until Glenna's passing in 2016.
Joe had his first civilian job working at Standard Oil and its subsidiary California Research & Development (CR&D). It was there that Joe got his first taste of Operational Management in the design and construction of a small research nuclear reactor. That experience led to his career choice that spanned almost 50 years. Joe was most proud of being the Mechanical Engineer assigned to manage the designing and building of General Electric's Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor. He was also there when it was de-commissioned in 1962. He enjoyed the annual GE reunion get-togethers in Livermore where he loved exchanging stories about those days. Joe went on to manage several more nuclear reactor construction projects in New Jersey, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. He and Glenna also temporarily relocated to Tokyo, Japan for 3 years as Bechtel's technical representative interfacing with Hitachi, Toshiba and Mitsubishi.
Joe was a cherished gift to his daughters. He was always there to support them, coming up with logical solutions to any of their problems and was always in demand for his building skills. On many weekends you could find him at one of his daughter's home doing maintenance or building projects, which he enjoyed. He loved spending time with family for celebrations and vacations.
He was preceded in death by his siblings Margaret, Oral and Lowell. He is survived by his 2 daughters Charmene McClarren and Corinne Grant, 6 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.
Those we love can never be more than a thought away. Memories of Joe will live in our hearts always.
A Private celebration of life will be held. Interment will be at Valley Memorial Park in Novato.
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1922 - 2017 (95 years)
