Joseph James Mckiernan, Jr.

October 18, 2022, Joseph James McKiernan, beloved husband, father, and grandfather passed away at the age of 79. Born in Chicago, Joseph joined the Jesuits after high school and studied English at Boston College, going on to teach writing and literature before moving to Los Angeles where he met his wife, Suzanne. Working in the medical communications and technology field for most of his career, the couple lived in Arizona, Texas, and raised their two girls in Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado before spending the last 23 years in Billings, Montana.

Joseph was a talented photographer and will be remembered by his friends and family as the documentarian, always toting a couple of cameras to every event. He loved taking pictures while hiking 14,000 ft peaks in Colorado and searching out remote destinations across the mountain west to capture on film. Any conversation with Joseph always had a joke in it; his sense of humor leaned toward the intellectual and arcane but was never above a good pun or a line from Monty Python. He enjoyed nothing more than a good dinner, shared with good friends, over a couple of glasses of great wine.

Joseph is survived by his wife of 52 years, his daughters, Kate and Mollie, his son-in-law Tyler, and his favorite granddaughter Quinn. Memorial celebrations are being planned for the summer of 2023.