Joe Louis Morehead

JOE LOUIS MOREHEAD, son of the late Mattie B. Powell (née Walker) and Gordy Morehead, was born on December 25, 1938 in Stephens, AR. He was the oldest living child of greater than twenty children born to Mattie Powell.

He attended Stephens high school where he played baseball and also played the drums in the band. He graduated high school and matriculated at University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 1958. He worked his way through college by working summers at Stephens roofing plant and campus jobs during the school year. He chose to major in mathematics because he loved problem solving. It was a difficult major for him because he didn't have the same math background as some of the other students but Joe thrived when he was challenged. With the help of kind professors and many sleepless nights, he graduated in 1962 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. While in college he became a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity. Once he graduated from college, he moved to California to live with his uncle and aunt, Grady and Geraldine Walker.

Joe landed in Los Angeles in the nineteen sixties, right in the middle of the space race. At the time, they were in desperate need for mathematicians and Joe found immediate employment with North American Aviation. He worked there as a mathematician and learned computer programming. Indeed, he was our own "Hidden figure" as he worked on a part of one of the Apollo projects.

Once he was settled in Los Angeles, he sent for and married his childhood sweetheart, Irigene McCree. Irigene became a medical technologist and achieved a Master's Degree in clinical laboratory science. She began working in the laboratory field and soon thereafter she and Joe decided to start their own medical laboratory. Irigene handled the technical aspects of the laboratory while Joe managed the business and the IT components. He wrote the computer code that allowed for near full automation of the daily operation of the lab.

Their business, Duz-Mor Diagnostic Laboratory dba Pacific Medical Laboratory, was the largest black owned laboratory this side of the Mississippi. It received specimens from all over California and two other states. It was located in south central Los Angeles and as a result, about 80% of its business was Medi-Cal. The laboratory became extremely successful (doing approximately 4 million dollars in billable work per year. Because so much of its business was Medi-Cal, however, he became a prime target of the state's attorney general. They could not believe that a black man could possibly be doing so well without illegal activity. The attorney general began conducting an investigation and used tactics such as wire tapping, large law enforcement raids, and witness intimidation, all in an attempt to entrap Joe. At one time they threatened to charge him with 30 counts of criminal misconduct and attempted to get him to take a plea deal. Joe maintained his innocence and refused their offers. The criminal charges were dropped but the attorney general proceeded with a civil case. Joe won the case in March of 1997 in California's Superior Court. Unfortunately, however, the tactics used by the state in the five year operation essentially put him out of business as he lost most of his employees, clients, and money in the process. This sad end to the lab doesn't negate its shining accomplishment and its outstanding legacy of hard work and endurance.

Joe and Irigene were married for eighteen years and three children were added to that union (Ira, Gail, and Keisha). All three of his children benefited from the early exposure to the medical profession. Ira followed in her parent's footsteps by becoming a phlebotomist and laboratory assistant. Gail became a medical doctor and Keisha became a dentist. Joe loved and was exceedingly proud of his children. He valued education and stressed its importance to his own children and to any other young person in which he came in contact. He encouraged good grades and rewarded academic achievement. He particularly stressed math and was notorious for "grilling" his daughters' suitors on their level of mathematic achievement. He taught math in adult schools and was given a lifetime teaching credential for math and physics in the state of California.

In addition to being a mathematician, computer programmer, and business man, Joe was also a musician. He had the utmost appreciation for all types of music. He started playing the drums in childhood but became enamored with the bass guitar as an adult. He taught himself to play the instrument. He threw himself wholly into learning the instrument, quite like he did when confronted with any other challenge. He started a band in the seventies. One of the band's favorite songs to play was "Breezin' " by George Benson. He even ventured into the record business by starting his own short-lived company entitled Groves-Morehead Enterprises (GME) which produced R&B albums. Joe played bass for the church choir at First Berean Christian Church for many years.

Joe was an extremely generous man. Whatever he had, he would happily give to those in need, even down to his last dollar. He also had a great sense of humor. He would make jokes and laugh with the nurses and doctors even while sick in the hospital. He loved imparting words of wisdom. One of his favorite kernels of knowledge was his four 'P's of success: Pride, Perseverance, Preparation, and Patience. Throughout his eight decades of life, he encouraged, supported, and guided many young people to success (not just his own children).

In later years Joe developed a passion for the game of golf. He was introduced to the game by an old college friend that he re-met after years living in Los Angeles. His friend, Mr. John Petty, fondly recounts how he and Joe frequently met at the Chester Washington golf course at 6 in the morning. They would jump the fence and have played a full round of golf by the time the course had opened.

Joe loved to discuss politics. He voraciously consumed political news. His television was continuously tuned to either CNN or MSNBC. Until the last couple of years of his life he enjoyed friendly arguments with his friends about current political events. He was extremely proud to have lived to see the swearing in of the first black president of the United States. He even had a picture of the Obama family enlarged, framed, and hanging on the wall in his apartment for all to see when they came to visit him.

Joe and Irigene divorced after eighteen years of marriage. He later married, then divorced, Lois Coke (née Morgan). After a lengthy illness, Joe departed from this world in the wee hours of the morning on October 21, 2021 in his home. He was preceded in death by his parents; six brothers: Phillip Powell, Rodell Powell, Anthony Jewel Powell, Nathaniel Powell, Isaiah Powell Jr., and Willie Lee Morehead Sr.; and three sisters: Ellen Jewel Powell Lee, Francis Powell-Chambers and Necie Jean Powell Davis.

He leaves to mourn his passing three daughters (Ira Lynn Morehead, Gail Denese Morehead, and Keisha Renae Morehead) and one granddaughter (Brittney Amber Price). He also leaves five brothers: Edward W. Morehead of Camden, AR, Stanley Wayne Powell of Forth Worth, TX, Johnnie L. Powell Sr. (Patsy) of Camden, AR, Jimmy Powell Sr. (Norma) of Chidester, AR and Elder Calvin Powell Sr. (Emma Jean) of Stephens, AR.; Five sisters: Velma J. Jones of Stephens, AR., Mattie M. Watson and Marilyn Poole both of Arkedelphia, AR., Carolyn Williams-Poe (Reginald) of Little Rock, AR., and Edith Cornelius of Camden, AR; Two sister-in-laws: Dorothy Morehead and Margie Powell, both of Camden, AR. Additionally he leaves a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and dear friends