WILMINGTON — Joe (Jose Geraldo) Torres went peacefully to be with his Lord on March 19th 2024. He was the 7th of 10 siblings who lived to adulthood. His parents, Antonieta and Petronilo (Nilo) had a total of 21 children. They lived in the small country town of Quebrangulo, Alagoas, Brazil in an
apartment above the general store that Nilo ran.
Joe came into the world in a very dramatic way— following a gun battle. His father Nilo had started selling light bulbs to support his growing family. Unfortunately, the owner of the town’s electric company found out and decided to eliminate the competition and came after Nilo with a shotgun. Fortunately, someone had warned Nilo, so when the man entered his store, Nilo jumped over the counter with his gun. Shots were fired but no one was injured. However, Joe’s mother, Antonieta, who was 7 months pregnant, was so shocked that she went into labor and Joe was born on 01/01/1937. Later, Nilo took Joe to the post office to weigh him: 2 kilos (4.4 pounds).
The family later moved to Palmeira dos Índios, a slightly larger village where Joe grew up. After he finished high school, an American friend of the family offered him a job in the USA. He snapped it up, moved to Texas and worked in an electrical supply company. Shortly thereafter he heard from his Uncle Sam.
After serving in the Army in Germany for two years, Joe moved to Indianapolis where he was employed in the service department of a VW dealer by day and took college courses at night. There he met a young lady who brought in her new Beetle for servicing. She was so impressed with the service she decided to marry the Assistant Service Manager.
After Joe finished his degree in Electrical Engineering, the couple moved to New Jersey with their two daughters. When the girls were of school age, the family moved to Brazil where they lived for nine years. There Joe introduced computers to his company and managed to save it millions of dollars a month in electric bills.
Thus, Joe was born after his mother was ‘shocked’ into labor during a battle over electric light bulbs and grew up to become an electrical engineer. It’s called poetic justice.
The family eventually moved back to the States, where Joe continued to work. They moved to Wilmington in 1991-92, and he became a U.S. citizen in 2003.
Joe is ‘loaning’ his wife Susan to Wilmington until she qualifies to join him. He leaves his daughter, Diana Grace Torres, who lives at Cape Fear Group Homes in Wilmington. Their other daughter, son-in-law and grandson live in Germany. He leaves one brother, Francisco Jose Torres, who lives in Brazil, two nephews who live in Maryland, Marcus Neumann and family, and Kennedy Torres and family, as well as scores of nieces and nephews in Brazil.
The funeral Mass will be celebrated April 4 at 2 p.m. at St Mark Catholic Church in Wilmington followed by a reception.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Cape Fear Group Homes, 102 Old Eastwood Road, Wilmington NC, 28403.
