Ok, normally I wouldn't post this as it is officially unconfirmed information, and would normally put it in the Dump Truck board because of it's newsworthy nature.
You may have heard of Joe Engressia, later to be known as Joybubbles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JoybubblesI've recieved unconfirmed reports from a friend of a friend of Joeys that he has in fact passed away. Details are sketchy, and confirmation has not been forthcoming, so take his news at face value.
He was 58 years old and was in declining health, sources say.
Original mailing list entries follow:
Joe Engressia, A.K.A. Joe the Whistler, A.K.A. Joybubbles passed
away in his apartment approximately two days ago. He was found by
management personnel after a phone friend grew concerned when he
hadn't heard from him in several days. His family in Florida was
notified. He was fifty-eight years old.
As most of you know, his ordeals with the phone company over
the blue box issue were noted in the October 1971 Esquire Magazine
article
"Secrets of the Little Blue Box." Recent interests included
humorous telephone postings called Phlogs on voicemail services.
He wrote Telephiles for Playback Magazine. His interests also
included children's literature and paraphernalia..
Although I never knew Joe personally, I did talk to him on the
Wawina, Minnesota conference line which was set up on June 15,
2006, when Wawina cut over from N2 to T1 for its toll trunks. He
also left many messages on a message board which was set up in the
weeks prior to the cutover.
Please post this message to any other lists where you feel it
would be appropriate, or send it to individuals. I am not in close
contact with any of the old phone phreak crowd, but I'm sure some
of you are, and can get the news out.
Jayson
A later mail entry to a question on his health simply states the following:
he was sick
Once again, people, this is unconfirmed information passed on by word-of-mouth, so please, until confirmation is forthcoming, treat it as such.
