Thankfully Spring appears to be approaching in the Midwestern United States. A sure sign of Spring is the dreaded first lawn mowing of the season that, for me, took place a couple of days ago. I seriously need to find a neighbor youngster who wants to make a few bucks by mowing others' lawns. Another sign of the warmer weather is that my three, large dogs have begun to shed their Winter coats; I've gathered enough canine fur around the house to stuff a new mattress. But on a positive note, it sure beats shoveling snow. The trees and shrubs and flowers are in full bloom, the migratory birds have returned, neighbors are working in their gardens, fishing season is just around the corner, and life feels good. Now, if I could just get rid of the squirrels nesting in my attic and the mouse who took up residence in my car over the Winter, I'd be a really happy camper.

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On a somber note, WINS has lost a founding member and the world has lost a great numismatist. Since our last newsletter, Joe Garbarini has peacefully passed away. Joe was a good friend to WINS and its members for almost eight years. But many of us knew him much longer and even more personally. He had a great family with many children and grandchildren. His career was in banking, but his tenure with the Federal Reserve System was his career legacy. As a young man, Joe served in the U.S. Army, graduated from college, married Imelda - his wife of more than 50 years, traveled with his family, rubbed elbows with famous people, and enjoyed life as much as any person I have ever known. Throughout life he loved to cook, play golf, fish, bowl, play baseball, listen to music, read and study history and, of course, collect coins.

Like many who raise a family, Joe's ability to invest in his coin collection was limited in earlier years. But his interest never waned. After retirement, he built his fledgling collection into a cabinet of which any coin collector would be proud. He had complete sets of many denominations of the United States; but he collected coins of the world as well. Joe also collected U.S. and world currency, error and variety coins, and generally anything that caught his eye. He was very proud of his world-wide FAO collection, but was even prouder of his U.S. Bust Half Dollar collection. Joe considered writing a book about his FAO coins because he was amazed at the lack of reference material available on those issues. He also considered publishing his extensive collection of Bust Half Dollars, which were all listed by Overton numbers. Fortunately, his Bust Half collection was meticulously imaged by WINS member John Baumgart and has been shared with the rest of us.

Most of us knew Joe best through his late-night postings on the WINS Lists. There, he shared his knowledge, answered questions, shared cooking recipes, told stories of his career and travels, proudly showed pictures of his family, and ran contests for the WINS members to enjoy. His contests ranged from guessing the future value of silver, to movie stars and musical artists, to baseball, world history, and coin trivia. And, yes, Joe always provided a coin prize to the contest winners. He sure knew how to keep life interesting and challenging.

But Joe's legacy with WINS reaches much farther. He would always lend an empathetic or sympathetic ear. He provided considerable counsel to those in need. He understood the nature of collecting, and human nature as well. He recruited WINS members from far and near, from strangers on eBay to casual friends. He loved WINS and promoted this club like few others have. He sent coins gifts to many of us, and for years he shared pieces of his collection via his famous "hat drawing" at the conclusion of every WINS Auction. Those gifts are treasured keepsakes. Joe served as Treasurer on the WINS Board of Directors where his passion and love for WINS and its members were obvious.

Joe Garbarini will be missed; missed by his personal family and missed by his WINS family. But he'll be remembered very well for a very long time. WINS is a much better club because of Joe, and now the heavenly coin-collecting community is benefiting from his presence. Rest in Peace, friend!

Best Regards,
Ralph J. Huntzinger
WINS#158, President