Joseph Karow

Formerly of Kalamazoo, Died July 20, 2018 in Los Angeles, California, age 58 years. Joe was born May 5, 1960 and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan, son of Alfred Robert and E. Isabel Karow. While growing up, Joe was a Boy Scout, a member of the youth group at Greenwood Reformed Church and played the cornet in the school bands. He graduated from Loy Norrix High School in 1978. Joe graduated from Michigan State University in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in agricultural biochemistry. Joe earned his master's degree from New Mexico State University in 1985. The degree was interdisciplinary Master of Science with the major subject: plant pathology. Joe moved to Anaheim, California, in 1986 and continued to reside in California until his death. Joe met Violet Marie Bayhi in California, and they were married in 1987 in Anchorage, Alaska. In California, he worked as project manager with Chemical Waste Management, Inc. in Anaheim and then as a software engineer for the remainder of his career. He had been retired for a number of years. As an adult Joe taught himself to play the flute. He was a handyman was able to maintain the cars, fix the plumbing and many other things at the house, which he learned from his dad. He enjoyed playing chess and wrote a chess program. He also enjoyed Shakespeare (plays and sonnets), biochemistry, biology, chemistry, photography, programming, gardening (especially his tomatoes and cacti). His favorite hobby in recent years was bird-watching. He and Violet traveled to many wonderful places in search of birds. He was predeceased by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Violet Karow; sister, Laura Leyanna, Swartz Creek, MI; brother, Richard Karow, Kalamazoo, MI; brother-in-law, Henry Bayhi, California; sister-in-law Marie, California; nephew, Jason Leyanna, Michigan. Please visit Joseph's personalized webpage for online guestbook or to leave a condolence. Arrangements were made the Langeland Family Funeral Homes, Memorial Chapel, 622 S. Burdick St. www.langelands.com.