September 11, 2025

Sean Duffy’s Eulogy Presented at Dr. Joseph Laker’s Funeral

Below is a copy of Dr. Joseph Laker’s Eulogy presented by his former student and friend, Sean Duffy, class of 1988. Mr. Duffy presented this during Dr. Laker’s Mass of Christian Burial at the Chapel of Mary and Joseph on September 11, 2025. 

What to say about Joe Laker?

It’s funny, when I invited Joe to speak at the library, I always had to ask him to keep it under one hour. And Joe would inevitably go over a little. But he was the great historian “Dr. Laker,” so I had to bite my tongue and endure. And it was always worth it. He was a fine analytical, detached, historian, never given to hyperbole. He did sound research and gave you the facts, good or bad. Ugly or sweet.

But the point is, he always went over the hour.

Well, for this I was told FIVE Minutes. Five minutes for a legend? Joe, we might go over a little.

This is indeed a sad occasion, but Joe was fun loving. He wouldn’t want this to be sad. And as Deacon Breiding reminded us last evening, this isn’t goodbye, it’s just “see you later.” Much later, we hope. But we’ll meet again.

I was always amazed by how Joe could switch from serious scholar to Jolly Good Fellow so quickly. He

had a terrific sense of humor. 

Wry, knowing smile and that chuckle of his. I can see him now, sitting next to Meg in his bucket hat, grinning at me.

I’ve known Joe for many years now since I was a goofy undergraduate and he was “DR LAKER.”

Even after I got to know him over the years and we served on boards together as colleagues, and even became social friends, I kept calling him Dr. Laker.

One day he said, “Sean, you can call me Joe.”

So the next time I saw him I toned it down to just “DOC.” That was my compromise. Only in the last few years could I bring myself to call him Joe. The man was a legend to me.

But, it’s mind boggling to me that I am right now much older than Joe was when he taught me history at Wheeling College.

And his legendary history department parties convinced me to be a history major.

We had three truly great teachers, Wack, Renn, Laker. They were all dear to me for different reasons.

I remember getting lots of A and even A plusses from Renn and Wack, but not Joe. I always thought, he’d never given me an A. I remember teasing him about it later. Why Joe? Why could only Renn see it? Why did you not recognize my genius. He grinned, chuckled. That was all.

The other night after I got the sad news, I was looking for pictures of Joe and I came across a document titled, “Laker Letter.” Hmm. What was this? I clicked it open and there on WJU stationary was a letter of recommendation I’d forgotten I asked him to write for me for some job or another. Obviously, one I didn’t get.

Anyway, I don’t think I’d ever actually read it before. He wrote some niceties, saying “Sean is intelligent, highly organized, and hard working. He is articulate both orally and in writing. He has always had a real love for historical research…”

OK. So far so good. 

Then it reads: “I have known Mr. Duffy for almost twenty years. He was my student during the mid-1980’s and took two courses from me, receiving a B in The Rise of America as a World Power. 

Oh great, I thought. I can picture the prospective employer salivating on that one. “Quick, sign Duffy. We can’t let him get away! He was BEEE student! Do you know how rare that is?”

But…wait for it… the letter went on:

“And an A- in the History of World War II.”

Well, I thought. Laker DID give me an A. Sorta. Kinda. This made me smile. But I think he wanted me to stay at the library, so he wrote about that B.

When I was in college, there was another history student, let’s call him “Joe P” who was very competitive. One day he said to me, “Which one of us do you think is going to win the history award?”

“History award? I thought. I didn’t know there was such a thing. And it didn’t mean much to me until it became a HUGE competitive thing for Joe P. I could see him buttering up Laker because they were political comrades and trying to paint me as Renn’s left wing protégé.

So now it was on. We both knew the winner would need two votes from the big three. Renn was my guy. No doubt. Wack was probably going for Joe P, or so I figured. So, it was down to Laker. I thought I had no chance.

Then, on graduation day, Joe Laker handed me this: It reads: (HE READ THE WORDING ON THE PLAQUE.).

I still have it on my office wall. It still means a lot to me. And the truth of the matter is, I have no idea to this day who Laker voted for. I never asked. I would bring it up on occasion, you know “Hi Doc, this is Wheeling College History Award winner Duffy.” And he would smile and chuckle.

But I still don’t know. And it’s too late to ask.

I do know this: Joe was a great teacher and mentor not just to me but to hundreds of students and young professors. and researcher. And he was generous with his time. While I’ve been at the library, he wrote articles for me. He presented library programs, 15 of them all told. As I was telling Meg yesterday, he never turned me down. He was always eager and willing to help. And I could count on him. Joe was an Epicurean. He loved food and drink. I remember when we served on the board at the WV Independence Hall Foundation together and he got elected president (by the way Joe, I DID vote for you), we spent nearly his entire first meeting as director decided where and how we would order lunch for the next meeting. This was

a priority!

He was a gentle soul. A good companion. He was kind. That’s a virtue we need more of these days. And he loved his beer. We were soul mates on that one. Joe hired me to teach at Jesuit as an adjunct at a time when I really needed someone to believe in me. That meant a lot.

Joe. If you can hear me, I don’t know if you voted for me or not. If you did, thank you. If you didn’t, Nya Nya Nya Nya Nya.

It was an honor and a pleasure to know you. Thank you for all you did for all of us.

See you later old friend.