Joseph Charles Elmore went to be with his Heavenly Father on June 12, 2018 at the age of 35.
He was preceded in death by his brother, Jerome Bouquard Elmore.
He is survived by his parents, Barbara Bouquard Elmore and James Lewis Elmore, wife, Jessica Smith Elmore, as well as numerous extended family.
He was a student at the Farragut, Tennessee schools, graduating from Farragut High School. He attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and was awarded his Bachelor of Arts degree. He was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at UT, where he received the Balanced Man Program award. At the time of his death, he was attending Tennessee Tech in pursuit of a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Joe was a life-long powerlifter/bodybuilder. His Southern Powerlifting Federation bench press record still stands. He owned a personal training gym in Knoxville (Elite Fitness Knoxville) for four years. He was very much a student of the sports as well as being a teacher to many whose lives he affected. He was a member of the Village Green Swim Team foreight years.
Joe had been an entrepreneur most of his life. He started out working in his parents’ orchid business (Elmore Orchids) and earning money for his first car, a 1982 Corvette, at 15 years old. At about 10 years old while potting orchids he noticed a small staghorn fern growing as a weed in the pot, so he gave it its own pot and he subsequently established and ran for many years Elmore Ferns and grew and sold staghorns in his parents’ greenhouses including many plants sold on Ebay and even sold a couple of orders of a rare species to customers in China. He also established a paintball business, Splatter Forest Paintball, as a teenager that he ran at the forest behind his parents’ business, Elmore Orchids, and later at a remote location. He was the youngest member of the Farragut and West Knox County Chamber of Commerce at 14 years old. The Chamber subsequently awarded Joe a scholarship stipend for college. While attending the University of Tennessee, he and a fraternity brother, Waylon Howell, developed an energy drink they named Neuro Fuel and they established Utopian Enterprises, LLC in order to market the drink. After running the business for several years it was sold to their distributor and Neuro Fuel can still be purchased at convenience stores in the region.
The burial ceremony will be held at Chattanooga Memorial Park on Monday, June 25, at noon. A celebration of life will be held afterward at St. Jude Catholic Church, 930 Ashland Terrace, Chattanooga, Tn. 37415.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Samaritan’s Purse.