Joel Esslinger

BARTLESVILLE — Joel Crowley Esslinger of Tallgrass Estates passed away Sunday, January 23, 2022, at The Journey Home as a result of congestive heart failure. He was 82.

Joel was born Dec. 21, 1939, in the Panama Canal Zone to Willian Houston Esslinger and Eileen Crowley Esslinger. He attended Canal Zone schools, graduating from Balboa High School and Canal Zone Junior College. He moved to Oklahoma in the 1960s to continue his education, studying at Oklahoma State and graduating from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. Following graduation, he moved to Bartlesville to take a position with Phillips Petroleum. He retired from Phillips in the early 1990s.

Joel was a diehard New York Yankees fan and enjoyed following both college and professional sports teams. He was an avid coin and stamp collector as well as a history buff, a lover of music and member of a bowling league.

He was an active member of St. John Before the Latin Gate Roman Catholic Church, where he served as sacristan, collections counter, lector and as a eucharistic minister and frequent volunteer. He also volunteered for many years in the diagnostic imaging department of Ascension St. John Jane Phillips Hospital, assisted its chaplain and had been honored as the hospital’s

volunteer of the month.

His memberships included the Knights of Columbus Council No. 1302 and the Panama Canal Society.

Joel was preceded in death by his parents and his brother and sister-in-law, Andrew D. and Phyllis Z. Esslinger of Sturbridge, Mass. He is survived by his sister Mary Esslinger of Washington, D.C., and two nieces, Ellen Esslinger Cooley of Watertown, Mass., and Amy Litman of Malden, Mass., as well as several cousins.

A Rosary service will be held Tuesday February 1, at 6:00 pm at St. John By The Latin Gate. Mass will be Wednesday February 2, at 12  pm at St. John By The Latin Gate Catholic Church.

Services have been entrusted to Arnold Moore & Neekamp Funeral Home. Online condolences can be left at www.honoringmemories.com.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to The Journey Home hospice, Bartlesville, or St. John Before the Latin Gate Roman Catholic Church.