Joel Clade Hamilton was born in Randolph County, NC on February 2, 1921. He married Helen Batten on September 1, 1941 and was married for sixty-eight years. Helen passed on January 1, 2010.

Joe and Helen had one son Joel McRae Hamilton (Susan) of Leonardtown, MD and one daughter Faye Jane Groves (Gary) of Eldersburg, MD, also survived by six grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren.

Joel was a Navy Veteran serving in WWII with both the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets and was a member of the North Carolina National Guard.

Joel worked in the Hosiery Mills of North Carolina until 1951 when he moved to Maryland where he was employed as a Machinist for the Glenn L. Martin Company. He than managed Service Stations for approximately fifteen years. After moving to Tennessee and then to Texas, he became a Helicopter mechanic and went to Air Conditioning school. Upon returning to Maryland he managed a Service Station and in 1978 he went to work for Cato Oil Company as a Service Technician on the Eastern Shore and retired in 1994.

Joel and Helen resided in Salisbury, MD until 2009, when they relocated to St. Mary's County, MD. For the past fifteen months, Joel has been a resident the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home, Charlotte Hall, MD.

Arrangements provided by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., Leonardtown, MD.