Remembering our friend, JOE BUCKNER Today on Echelon Parkway, just north of Interstate 220, cubicles, offices and conference rooms are filled with sadness, and disbelief as MDES employees remember the life of a co-worker, champion, friend, known most of all, as the Job Fair King with that Big- O- Heart , a true legend in history, who we came to know as Joe Buckner! Joe was definitely considered a legend through the corridors of Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES). However, he was quick to let you know that he reported to the Office of the Governor and worked for the State of Mississippi and not for MDES. This probably made us love him even more, even though he never fully claimed us as his own, but loved us just the same. Joe never had problems correcting anyone who verbally made the mistake of saying he worked for MDES. Early in the morning or late in the evening, walking swiftly as if he was about to sprint, you would find him wearing his Mississippi State or his favorite red Governor’s Job Fair polo shirt with a pencil and paper in hand. On any given day you could meet Joe walking from the CEO’s office over into Business Management to check on the status of employers that Bessie kept track of, then, down he would go to the print shop to check on flyers, brochures and posters he was having printed for the next Governor’s Job Fair. Afterward, he would proceed back down to the south end of the building where his office was located; only to be there long enough to check his email to ensure a meeting had been scheduled for the up and coming Governor’s Job Fair. Joe depended on Bessie for these kinds of things and she never once let him down. Joe spent the majority of his time traveling from businesses and seeking out the next best place to hold a job fair. When it came to job seekers, Joe’s heart would melt. He was more passionate about a person getting a job than probably their own family. At the end of the day, all he wanted to know was how many people were offered jobs and got them and to make sure every person that came in late had an opportunity to see the employers they had hoped to meet. If they were e too late, he would take their names and numbers and make sure the employer received their information. He was the last to eat lunch, the last to leave every job fair, and the 1st to acknowledge it as being a great success. He didn’t drive a fancy car, or try and stay in the finest hotels when business called him to stay overnight. He was just that kind of guy. In fact, that poor car he drove for so many years, had passed the 450 thousand miles mark and he never changed the oil, he would just add oil in it when it when it got low. Many of us remember talking politics, religion, and what was the best university in the state, only to give him bragging rights about all three subjects because we knew how passionate he would be about all three of them. Joe was known for many things while he was here at MDES: like his faith in God, his loyalty to Veterans and his country, to the unemployed who stood in lines waiting to get inside at a job fair during the hottest of days and the coldest of mornings, yet, still we remember him most as a friend who had a youthful laugh, not big or loud, but a laugh that only Joe could do. You know the one – as if he had won a marathon! Many have come, and many have gone, now Joe has made history, and as we all know, history lives on. From the MDES FAMILY on Echelon Parkway in Jackson, MS.