Joseph "King" McCrossan

You’re beautiful. You’re endless. Now stretch your wings and fly.

Left behind with raw and sore hearts, 2 sisters, 3 brothers, 2 neices, 10 nephews, 2 great nephews and 3 great neices. And friends from all backgrounds, who were all of the same opinion, that Joe was a friendly guy, who'd never pass you by and was always genuinely interested, in how they were. He could be quite the gentleman, when it suited him.

☆¸.•*´☆¸.•*´☆¸.•*´☆¸.•*´☆¸.•*´☆
*MY * PRECIOUS * BROTHER*
☆¸.•*´☆¸.•*´☆¸.•*´☆¸.•*´☆¸.•*´☆



Joseph was my big brother, today he'd have been 43. Happy Heavenly Birthday Joe. He earned his angel wings, last Sunday, when he fell asleep. He had severe dyslexia and the mental age of a 12 year old, but also an innocence, that none of the rest of us, could ever possess. My earliest memory of Joe, was him stealing my doll, complete with pink pram and running away with it, peeing himself laughing the whole time. Then I started screaming (probably more of a wailing actually) and he brought it back and called me "A big baby". I was 4!!! Technically, still a baby. I have a scar on my forehead, from childhood. He'd been fighting with a lad in our street, I had a ponytail in my hair and apparently, I looked like the lad (I was very insulted by this comment) anyway, he threw a drinks can at me. The next thing I knew, I had blood trickling down my face! I'm sure Joseph has many many memories of me, from years ago, which funnily, at the age I am now (41) he'd still bring up and throw in my face!!! Half the time, I didn't know what we were arguing about!?!? Although he wasn't perfect (he drove us to the brink of frustration, many times) alot of people didn't have the patience for him, that he had for them. Joseph was a big Elvis fan and would argue, he was the biggest. Alot of his nicknames included the word 'King' but my personal nickname for him was Joe(fish). He was also a Man Utd fan and our local, Raith Rovers. I'm sure he just did this, to wind the rest of the family up, because we're all Celtic fans. He'd wind us up endlessly, if our team ever lost a game, but you weren't allowed to return the favour! A favourite response of his was "You canny dae that!" Also, if you asked him a question that he didn't know the answer to, his reply would be "I wish I knew" but in quite a high pitched voice, which was also for effect. He loved all the programmes and old movies, we grew up with as kids. Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Dad's Army, Steptoe & Son, Land Of The Giants and of course, any film Elvis Presley starred in. He watched them endlessly. He watched them for so many years, he could tell you, word for word, what was going to be said. He'd tape his favourite quotes and songs from films, onto to audio tapes too (sometimes he'd 'aquire' these, from a family member, but you weren't allowed to moan or complain, because, "For God's sake, you weren't using it!" or "It was just lying there") These were some of Joe's favourite things to do. I don't think we could count, the amount of labless video tapes (he wasn't keen on dvd's) but, Joe knew what was on any one, you picked up. That's some talent!!! Since he lived downstairs from me and I had the pleasure of his bedroom, being below mine, I often got to hear them, very loudly!!! Why he needed the volume so loud, I'll never know. Sometimes he'd have a song on repeat...very annoying, especially after the 6th or 7th time. On several occasions, I've often had to bang on the floor to him, or hope he'd hear the phone ringing, to tell him "Turn that down! I have work in the morning" I would often get an amazed reply of "Okay then" but, I knew he was thinking "Jesus, what's her problem?" I'd do anything to be able to bang on the floor again. I'd sing a Celtic song to him, called Willie Maley, but I'd sing "And they gave us Joe McCrossan & Paul McStay" instead of "James McGrory & Paul McStay" and Joe would quite seriously tell me, "No. That wasn't me, I've never played for Celtic" Mum would often laugh at his innocence. These kinds of jokes with Joe, were fine. But there were others, who took things too far. Well, at least he's away from them and their cruelty. Joe was a wee guy with a big loving heart, a poor wee soul who didn't have much, but like our mother, was happy with his lot. Mum passed with dementia, but Joseph had the greatest patience with her, before we lost her. I think of us all, he was affected more, so I'm happy to think of him, being with mum again, happy and being spoiled rotten, as she did here. He'll probably have mum's ears burning, telling her of all the things we've done to him, but leaving out the bits about what he'd done first. I miss seeing him, coming in or going out, always walking somewhere, sometimes on errands for other people, where he'd moan about it, another thing I can't understand why, because you just knew, he'd relent and do what was asked of him. He always put out my wheelie bins, when doing his own. He'd bring in my washing, if I was working or out somewhere. I have 3 sons, who hardly ever got their names. If anyone of them had done something, that really annoyed him, he'd come up and tell me "Son number 1" or "Son number 2" Just so I knew which son, was annoying him at that particular moment. Who would think, I'd miss such simple things? But God knows I do. I miss you "grandpa Joe"