Joe Russell

Mr. Joe Frank Russell departed from his earthly home on March 10, 2023, after fighting an aggressive battle with cancer. He found comfort in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
He was born March 2, 1952, in Paducah, Ky. Joe spent his early years on the family farm in Kevil, Ky., with his parents, Paul Franklin Russell and Pearl Shelby Russell. He graduated from Ballard Memorial High School in 1970 and continued his education at Murray State University, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1974. He taught agriculture at the Ansonville Technical Institute in Ansonville, N.C., at the Frank Porter Brown Experimental Farm. He came back to Kentucky and was employed by the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant while completing his Master’s Degree in Industrial Technology at Murray State University. He worked for Turkey Point Nuclear Plant then returned to serve as Assistant Manager of Cairo Public Utility.
In 1984, he served as General Manager of the Malden Board of Public Works and in 1994 accepted a position with Oklahoma Gas and Electric serving as a power supply manager and power marketer. After retirement, he consulted for NAES in Washington and served as an off-system power supply marketer for Big Rivers Electric Cooperative in Henderson, Ky.
He was an active member of the Oklahoma City Safari Club, Dallas Safari Club, NRA and Tri-City Gun Club. He and his wife, Kathy, enjoyed traveling extensively throughout Europe, Central America and Africa. He was of the Southern Baptist faith. Joe was an honorable man, who was greatly loved by his wife and children.
He is survived by his loving wife of 45 years, Kathryn Oliver Russell; children, Matthew Tyler Russell and wife, Leslie Madden Russell, of New Albany, Miss., and Emily Kathryn Russell Hooper and husband, William Kyle Hooper, of Owasso, Okla.; a legacy of five grandchildren, Kylea Kathryn Hooper, Addison Grace Hooper, Emma Pinion Russell, Matthew Tyler Russell and Nathanial Garrett Russell; and his mother, Pearl Russell of Norman, Okla.
After cremation, a private service is planned for family and close friends at his family farm in Kentucky.

Published in The Messenger 3.22.23