Joseph David Amero

Joe is survived by his wife of 34 years Candy Amero, also of Greenwood, Virginia, his son Mateo Champlain and his wife Miranda Champlain of Saranac Lake, and his grandson Merle Champlain of Saranac Lake. Additionally, he is survived by his mother Marylyn Walker of Saranac Lake, sister Debbie Dashno and her husband Mike Dashno of Dickinson Center. Joe is also survived by numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

Joe grew up in Saranac Lake and for several years he lived on Forest Hill Avenue, spending much of his time fishing from Moody Pond and hiking Mount Baker as a child. Joe was very active in his youth, he was always adventuring with his huge gang of neighborhood friends on their bicycles or skateboards in town or in their boots on a trail. Joe spent a lot of his childhood with his grandfather Stearns “Stub” Walker, who taught Joe how to fish, hunt, trap, identify plants and other natural skills that never left him. He was also very athletic in his youth. Over the years he played hockey and baseball, he speedskated, ran track and wrestled.

Joe started wood carving as a child in Boy Scouts, and over the years gifted and sold thousands of carvings, often of mountain men and animals — always sticking to Adirondack folk themes. He was an avid outdoorsman and he hiked, camped, rock-climbed, and ice-climbed across most of the High Peaks regardless of rain, snow, or sunshine. He was known to put his initials “JA” on trees wherever he’d go and you can find them scattered all over the Adirondacks. Joe was also a motorcyclist. He began riding as a child with a mini dirt bike, and he continued to ride until moving to Virginia in 1995.

Joe was a lover of music and had an encyclopedia-like knowledge of classic rock from the ’60s and ’70s. Joe’s knowledge was so extensive that no one wanted to play trivia with him. The first album he bought was “Aqualung” by Jethro Tull in 1971 when he was 14. He kept almost every ticket stub of each concert he went to. From places like the Montreal Forum, to Albany, and Syracuse, he saw groups such as The Marshall Tucker Band, Yes, Rush, Pink Floyd, Blue Oyster Cult, Elton John, Charlie Daniels, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and many others. Joe was also present when the Grateful Dead played at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid on Oct. 17, 1983.

After Joe graduated high school in 1975, he and his friend hitchhiked from Saranac Lake to West Palm Beach, Florida in search of adventure. He returned north a month later, which was when began his lifelong career as a carpenter. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Joe had some brief stints in Westfield, Massachusetts and Galveston, Texas, but ultimately always moved back home to Saranac Lake. Joe met Candy Martin in 1986 and they married in Saranac Lake on Aug. 20, 1988. On April 5, 1995, Joe and Candy’s son Mateo was born in Saranac Lake. Later that year, they moved to Charlottesville, Virginia where Joe continued to work as a master finish carpenter and woodcarver for many years, and hiked the Blue Ridge mountains.

There will be a private memorial for friends and family in Saranac Lake scheduled at a later date.