From Local 3 News: Cleveland resident, Joe Paul Pass, recently played the National Anthem at a Chattanooga Lookouts game, and what most people wou
From Local 3 News: Cleveland resident, Joe Paul Pass, recently played the National Anthem at a Chattanooga Lookouts game, and what most people would call ‘talented’, his family calls ‘a walking miracle.’
“I started taking piano at an early age,” Pass said. “I just hung with it all through the years.”
Pass studied music at the University of Tennessee and went on to teach.
“He was a music instructor, and then he was minister music at several churches locally and out of state,” said Lori Gregory, Pass’s daughter.
In 2018, Pass had a heart attack known as a “widowmaker”.
“The Sunday after Thanksgiving, he suffered a massive heart attack,” said Jeff Gregory, Pass’s son-in-law. “They warned us that his numbers are not good, and that we need to think about his quality of life. We said, ‘Well, we’re going to put it in the Lord’s hands and give him every chance to live.'”
Pass went several minutes without receiving oxygen to his brain, which ultimately resulted in him having dementia.
His family said it’s a miracle he survived, but he had to spend several days in the ICU and relearn many things.
“He had to learn how to walk again, how to talk again, how to swallow,” Lori Gregory recalled.
On the list of things to relearn was the piano, which he’s done, beautifully.
Pass now lives at Avail Senior Living in Cleveland where he’ll perform duets with staff member Cody Harvey.
“He started playing some hymns and I would sing along with him,” Harvey said. “We were asked to start traveling around the community, so we have begun going to independent livings, other assisted livings, nursing homes. We’ve termed it, ‘The Papa Joe and Cody Show!'”
On May 7, Pass’s gift reached even more ears when he played the National Anthem for a stadium of people at the Chattanooga Lookouts game.
“It’s just a reminder of how far he has recovered,” Jeff Gregory said. “You go back to 2018, and you get that call that you’re asked to think about his quality of life and to stand out on that field and watch him play, he’s an absolute walking miracle. There’s no other way to say it.”
“We’re just blessed to have dad back and doing what he loves best,” said Lisa Pass, Joe’s other daughter.
