In Memoriam

August 19, 2022

Remembering those who have passed

DR. WILLIAM JOSEPH MADDOX
July 11, 1944 - July 30, 2022
Dr. Joe Maddox Has Passed
-Submitted by Darron Hendley
Undoubtedly the most beloved veterinarian in and around Troy, Alabama, peacefully succumbed recently to an array of serious health issues. Not only was Dr. Joe Maddox a superb vet, but he was the definitive sportsman and outdoorsman. He was definitely one of a kind - a big man with an even bigger laugh! His quick wit and sense of humor could crack anybody up. As rough and tough as he was, he was very tender hearted, kind, and generous, especially with children. He said many times "kids can get anything I've got!" He could be brutally honest at times, and the more brutal he was to you, the more he liked you. He had many friends from all walks of life, and every one of them has a "Joe Maddox story."

After high school, Joe went off to college. He didn't exactly give it his all, and with no vision of what the future held in store, he told his father he wanted to drop out and do something else. His father gave him 40 acres of recently clear-cut timber land and told him to clean it up and farm it. He could live the rest of his life off the land. Joe spent the summer clearing stumps by hand! No tractor or heavy equipment, just hand tools! Joe got about half-way through the back breaking task and wisely decided college was not such a bad idea after all!
It was indeed a good thing he did. Joe finished college and eventually became an expert surgeon. His clients loved him, and he loved his clients--and their animals. He would make barn calls when no other vet would. Once he was treating a colicky horse while Hurricane Opal blew through. A tree fell on the barn he was working in. Joe never let up, cured the horse, and cracked jokes the whole way through. Once he showed up on Christmas morning to a client's barn to save a horse in distress and announced upon his arrival "Santa Clause is here!" He was an old-school vet that excelled at his trade. He would even let you sit in on your animal's surgery and explain what he was doing as he went!

Joe was a very complex and talented man. His office looked like a mad scientist's lair with stacks of old hunting and fishing magazines scattered about. By his desk stood a four-foottall stack of old American Field magazines that he referred to often. Pictures of birddogs and hunting scenes adorned every wall in the building. A picture of his daddy's old mule pulling a plow hung by the back entrance to remind him why he went to vet school! Joe had many hobbies and excelled at all of them. Believe it or not, he made his own saddles, bits, and horse tack. He could even shoe his own horses. His barn was equipped with every horse and dog contraption imaginable. He was a certified scuba diver. He could not read a single note of music, but he was an accomplished guitarist, able to play any song by ear. He wouldn't just strum it but pick it out like Roy Clark!

Joe loved to hunt with all kinds of dogs. He had squirrel dogs, rabbit dogs, hounds, and pointers. Doc grew up with bird dogs and developed a special admiration for them. His father was breeding pointers as early as 1947. Joe got into field trialing bird dogs around 40 years ago and was fortunate to have enjoyed running several exceptional field trial dogs. Some may remember "Social Menace". Probably his favorite, lovingly referred to as
"Henry" is immortalized by a gravestone outside his vet clinic. He always kept at least four or five big stout 16 or 17 hand topnotch Tennessee Walking horses for himself. They served him well in pursuing his most passionate contribution to the sport, which was judging horseback field trials. His keen eye for a good bird dog was well renowned which made him a much soughtafter field trial judge. He judged field trials all over the country, most notably the National Open Shooting Dog Championship an amazing seven times! He also served on many club boards including the National Open Shooting Dog Championship, the National Amateur Free-for-All Championship and was the chairman of the Quail Run Field Trial Club for many years.

Many friends knew him as the best horseman they had ever met. He knew what made a horse tick and how to make him better. He looked good on a horse and was a natural rider. He made it look easy, like he was sitting in a lounge chair. He loved to share his knowledge of horses with others and did so on countless occasions. Joe was generous to a fault. He jumped at every opportunity to help people in need, even total strangers. He loved a practical joke, even if he was on the receiving end. He just loved to laugh and laugh he did! You could hear it a mile away! Those that knew Doc will never forget him. There will never be another like him. Joe was loved by many and will be sorely missed.

Remembering Tim Tufts
Submitted by David A Fletcher
A very sad e-mail arrived Sunday morning July 17, from Frances, Corey, Emily and Dave Tufts and the first line read, "We are devastated that Tim left us this morning , gathered with family and surrounded by music in the farmhouse where we live." Cancer had take its' eventual toll. I have been in that farmhouse many times playing my banjo as Tim completed the duet on his acoustic guitar, and we sang all the songs we knew. I will miss him greatly. Tim was a very good musician and his brother had a very popular Canadian folk group.

We both lived in Ontario not far from the Metropolitan area of Toronto where Tim worked in his early adult life as a computer expert specializing in stock record programming, inventory control and bar coding but later sold his interest and he and wife Frances in 1988 purchased his farm at Orono, Ontario, in what us locals called "the ridges" a long east-west range of hills parallel to the north shore of Lake Ontario. I had previous visits to the "farm" when it was under the ownership of Bodo Winterhelt and Bob Willis. Tim was a graduate of the University of New Brunswick in Forestry and had bird dogs in the maritime provinces at that juncture. After establishing his kennel on the "farm" Tim, starting out, ran his Setters in the Ontario Bird Dog Association events, where we met for the first time. One of Tim's early ventures was raising Pheasants Chukar and Quail and supplying them to many field trial clubs.

In the late 1980's,Tim and Bill McClure a prominent Ontario Brittany trialer gathered with other Ontario field trial participants and their interest was in having a Ruffed Grouse Championship in Ontario. The Ruffed Grouse Society had already staged Ruffed Grouse events near Norwood. Ontario. A site was chosen about 60 miles north of Toronto...the Copeland Forest, near Barrie, Ontario. I was invited to judge their Grouse Classic, a three year lead-up to their Championship which began in 1992. My judging partner was my longtime friend Bill McClure, Club Secretary Tim Tufts. I immediately joined the club and judged and reported some of the early renewals. The Copeland Forest eventually was abandoned by the Championship. There was no cutting program, no young aspen growth. The forest grew up and the area was also open to live ammunition hunting during the trial dates. Tim tried a few other sites in Ontario without great success, then called on his New York and Pennsylvania dog trial friends to help stage the Championship and they used several Pennsylvania and New York sites. I became re-involved with the group, and being an Ontario native was pegged as President, with Tim as Secretary/Treasurer and the Directors were Joe Cammisa and Dr. Tim Perschke. Tim Tufts turned professional in 2000 and campaigned many winning dogs in the Grouse woods. Tim ran dogs in the early days for owners such as John Plowes and later formed a partnership with Dr.Tim Perschke. Kendal Hills Dawson Creek was one of the Champions under this partnership. Tim also was a breeder of trial Setters, and youngsters from his breeding program were consistent winners in Grouse Futurities. Tim also won with Grouse Ridge Becky and KH Calipso.

Those who knew Tim always admired his dedication to wild bird Grouse and Woodcock trials and he dearly loved large powerful, hard driving Setters, out on the rim of course, skilled at getting Ruffed Grouse located and pointed. His dedication to the Ontario Grouse Championship, was another admirable thing about Tim. He stayed with the Ontario Grouse Championship through thick and thin and managed it for over 30 years. There was no quit in Tim Tufts, and he followed his dream all his days.