Bill Joslin Oral History, Part 2/2

Descriptive

Part OfBill Joslin Oral HistoryIntervieweeJoslin, BillInterviewerMcBride, JoyceBrowse TopicCommunity GroupsEducationLaborSubjectGlobe High SchoolGlobe, ArizonaASUDescriptionWhile Bill Joslin loved music, he was also an honor student at Globe High School. He thought about his future and decided building things would be a better career, so he went to Arizona State University intending to major in Construction Engineering. The housing assigned to him was the M.O.S.B., a dorm for athletes. He quickly lost his focus, gave up playing his horn, took up drinking and the party lifestyle of his roommates. In the first semester, his grades plummeted from high school’s 4.00 g.p.a. to 0.69, and so he gave up ASU and transferred to NAU. In Flagstaff, Bill got on as a fire fighter on a helitack crew for the Forest Service. In 1966 he enlisted in the Army and served 3 years as a Special Forces medic. He was drinking heavily now. After the Vietnam War, he returned to ASU, changed his major and got a BS in Wildlife Biology in 1974-75. He also met and married fellow student. Bill worked for the Forest Service helitack crew stationed in Pleasant Valley during school, and then they relocated to the Missoula Smokejumpers, where he fought wildfires for 15 years. He purchased 10 acres and made a home there. Unfortunately his alcoholism was now taking a toll on his marriage. His wife left him in 1984. At this point he picked up his clarinet again and began to work his way back to sobriety. Now alone, Bill decided to return to ASU for post grad studies in the field of Southwest Archeology. He was picked up by Louis Berger & Associates to work on the Besh ba Gowah site in 1988-89. Now sober, he brought his gpa up to 3.86 while studying Archeology and Natural Resources Management. He also continued to work in wildfire fighting to fund his studies. In the spring of 1989, Bill accepted a Wildlife Biologist job in Colorado and worked there until he retired. Still sober, Bill became a charter member of a concert band. He’d remarried, but things got tense between him and his second wife and they divorced in 2013. Bill returned home to Arizona again. He heard that Globe-Miami had an active community concert band, so he began commuting to be a part of it. He has since moved back to Globe, where he works at the Pickle barrel part time and plays the bass clarinet, soprano clarinet, alto sax and soprano sax in the concert band. Life is good. He estimates he spends about 50% of his priorities on his music and the rest in keeping physically fit and working, but he says all this is contingent upon his sobriety. Looking back at Globe High School, he credits Bandmaster Nunamaker for being his greatest influence. Audio Length00:18:29Date Original2016-03-07Date Range1960s (1960-1969)1970s (1970-1979)1980s (1980-1989)1990s (1990-1999)2000s (2000-2009)2010s (2010-2019)TypeSound- NonmusicalOriginal FormatOral historiesLanguageEnglishContributing InstitutionGila County Historical MuseumCollectionOral Histories of Globe High SchoolRights StatementThe opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and interviewer only. They do not represent the views of the Gila County Historical Society of Globe High School. Please contact the Gila County Historical Society Museum, located at 1330 North Broad Street, Globe, AZ 85501; call 928-425-7385 or email [email protected]ahistorical.com with questions concerning content or the use and reproduction of this resource.

Geographic

City or TownGlobeCountyGila CountyStateArizonaCountryUnited StatesGeoNames URIhttps://sws.geonames.org/5296013

Oral HistoryBill Joslin

Administrative

IdentifierJoslin, Bill, Part 2.mp3Date Digitized2016-03-07Digital FormatMP3

62.mp3

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Bill Joslin Oral History, Part 2/2