Joseph Dailey, at age 32, was retired Army captain
From the hot deserts of Egypt to the frigid hills of Korea, Joseph Dailey had a way of calming fellow members of the armed services that came in handy during his peacekeeping missions overseas. In weekly e-mails that he sent his family, he documented his ordeal -- from the 25-mile intensive running drills through hilly terrain to the seemingly mundane office jobs he held over the years.
On Wednesday, the 32-year-old retired Army captain died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in his parents' Abington home.
Growing up in Abington, ''Gentle Joe" was known for settling disputes among neighborhood kids. That quality later helped him keep the peace among Israelis and Egyptians.
''It's nothing you can truly describe -- it's just something about him that made you feel calm," his sister, Megan Johnson, said yesterday.
After his 1990 graduation from Boston College High School, Mr. Dailey, attracted by the area's ski slopes, headed to the University of Vermont on an Army ROTC scholarship. He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering four years later.
An army captain of the 101st Airborne Division, he graduated from Ranger School and served in Egypt and Korea.
During his college years, ''We hiked every mountain in Vermont that you could think of," longtime friend and fellow ROTC member Nate Gahr said yesterday.
The day after Mr. Dailey graduated, he reported for duty at Fort Benning in Georgia, where he took part in an infantry officer basic training course. Not long afterward, he was parachuting out of planes at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.
As part of his service, Mr. Dailey traveled to Egypt to work at the communications center on the Egypt-Israeli border for six months, helping the United Nations peacekeeping efforts there.
At one point during the stint he sat at the same desk for 21 days straight. ''I start to go a little stir crazy," he wrote to his family in an e-mail.
Not long after returning, in June 1998, he was promoted to captain, and then commanded a battalion in Korea.
As a signals officer, his electrical engineering training came in handy working on communications systems.
''There's not too many people that are electrical engineer types, a whiz with computers and electronics and who volunteer to be a grunt infantry guy," Gahr said.
In late 2001, Mr. Dailey started have health problems and doctors soon discovered a tumor. After getting initial treatment in Hawaii, he was sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, and then arrived back in Massachusetts after being discharged.
While being treated as an outpatient at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, he helped design communications systems in the New Bedford airport's newest control tower.
In addition to his sister, Mr. Dailey leaves his parents, Patricia and William, and a brother, Andrew, of Braintree.
A funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in St. Bridget's Church in Abington. Burial will be in Milton Cemetery.
