The Saleeby-Fisher YMCA is a unique place where people can go to chat, relax, exercise or just sleep.  As staff we chose to spotlight one of our members who has impacted our lives. 

Joe Haas has been a member of the Saleeby-Fisher YMCA since 2005 and he has come to be known as “Sleeping Joe”.  He is one of our staples at the YMCA. You might catch him sleeping, enjoying a cup of coffee, engaging in conversation or exercising in the pool area.  What makes Joe unique to us is his wonderful singing voice and his wealth of musical knowledge.      

Joe was born and raised in Charlotte, NC and in 1968 received his PHD in Music from Florida State University.  From there Joe taught 2 years at an all girls’ college, 13 years at Valdosta State in Florida and 3 years at Eastern Kentucky University.  At all colleges he taught within the confines of the Music Curriculum, which included Music History, French, English, German and Italian Diction, and Voice.  Wanting to pursue his personal singing talents, Joe had an opportunity to travel Europe singing Opera with a variety of production companies over a period of 6 months.  Some of the productions he was involved in were Kismet, Hello, Dolly!, West Side Story, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Wildcats, to name a few.  He traveled back to Charlotte to take care of family and worked at CPCC.  In 1986, Joe became the Choir Director of Glenwood ARP Church, which he still enjoys doing today. 

Joe and his wife have been married for 52 years and raised two children, one son and one daughter; they have one granddaughter and two great grandchildren.  He and his family have lived in Rockwell for 10 years and when asked what he was going to do in retirement his reply was, “The only decision I want to make is when to go to the YMCA.”  Joe spends his day going to Hardee’s for breakfast, coming to the Y and visiting his wife at a nursing home.  He is a very special part of our YMCA family and we thank him for serenading us from time-to-time.