Joe Daley was a magician – he could misdirect the eye and pull quarters from behind people’s ears.

But, Daley, who died last week at age 85, worked his magic in more subtle ways, as well, with the hundreds of children who passed through his school. Daley was the first principal at Sherwood Elementary School, dubbed “Joe’s Place” by the staff.

Chuck Rosenquist, school psychologist at Sherwood, described Daley’s uncanny ability to diffuse bad situations and convince students to go and sin no more.

One day, someone ran into the office to tell Daley about a 4th grader gone crazy.

“He was running around and throwing chairs,” Rosenquist said. “He was totally out of control.”

Daley gently put his arm around the boy’s shoulder and said, “We need to talk.”

“They walked down the hall, his arm around the boy’s shoulders like he’s his grandfather or dearest friend,” Rosenquist said.

The counselor said Daley had the same calming effect on irate parents during his 32 years as Sherwood principal. He simply sat back, his tie askew, fingering his ever-present pipe and listened.

“They’d be giving him hell,” Rosenquist said, “but he didn’t respond. He just listened and listened and listened.”

By the time parents finished, they’d relaxed.

“When they left, everything was solved,” Rosenquist said. “All Joe’d said was, ‘We’ll take care of it.'”

Daley’s people skills were legendary, he said.

“If Joe was with the pope, he’d be comfortable,” Rosenquist said. “If he was at the bar in the Let ‘R Buck Room, he’d be comfortable.”

“He was everybody’s friend,” said Mary Ramey, school secretary for 30 years.

Daley came to Pendleton 60 years ago after assistant Pendleton school superintendent Rudy Rada recruited him from Colorado State University, along with Ewald Turner and Phil Farley.

“I was shanghaied,” Daley said, razzing Rada in an earlier EO story. “He lied to me. He told us that Pendleton was in this lush, green valley … .”

The young men drove to Pendleton in Turner’s car to find zero lushness, but rather acres of rolling wheat fields. They settled into a house together.

“We were just in time for the worst winter Pendleton had had in years,” Farley remembers. “It got down to 30 below.”

Daley, he said, didn’t mind the cold, walking across town from home to Hawthorne School, where he first taught.

However, “his ears froze,” Farley said. “It was so painful, we’d have to go in at night and plump the pillows.”

Daley embraced his new home and looked for a way to fit in.

“He wanted to learn to rope and how to ride,” said Jim Rosenberg, a friend. “He wanted to get into Pendleton life.”

Rosenberg taught him, though Daley was a bit of a greenhorn, at first. Eventually, Daley bought a roping horse and competed in calf roping at various rodeos.

“He was a natural athlete,” Rosenberg said.

His newfound love of rodeo eventually led to a stint on the Pendleton Round-Up Board of Directors.

Daley eventually married his wife Jane, another teacher, and started a family. Daughter Jana Dick, of Gresham, remembered her father as non-judgmental, fair and “extremely witty.” He practiced rope tricks, yodeling and magic and loved “a good cup of coffee, his pipe and popcorn while watching the history channel.”

He occasionally tried his wife’s sanity. Her father, Dick said, loved snakes. Her mother detested them.

“One day, he brought a boa constrictor home for spring break,” Dick said. “He was going to keep it in the bathtub for the week.”

Her mom, horrified, sent him and the snake packing.

Her dad displayed a soft spot for the less fortunate.

“The night before Christmas, we had to go through all our toys and find all the toys we didn’t play with,” Dick said of her and her sister JoDee. “We cleaned them up and took them to the families at his school that were underprivileged.”

Dick’s daughter, Janelle McCreadie, marveled at her grandfather’s intelligence, especially while the pair sat and watched Jeopardy together.

“I wouldn’t even have read the question and he already spouted the answer,” she said.

Joe Cole, retired principal of West Hills Intermediate School and Lincoln Elementary School, also remembered Daley for his intelligence and quick wit.

“You could never get the best of Joe in a verbal exchange,” he said.

Rosenquist said his wit threatened to get him in trouble more than once. Rosenquist remembered the day the district’s new superintendent assembled his troops.

“He called us all in and told us the district would be run like a ship,” Rosenquist said. “When he got done with all the orders, he asked, ‘Are there any questions?'”

There was an uncomfortable pause, Rosenquist said, until Daley indicated he had a question.

“Are you going to break our knees,” he asked.

Later in life, Daley struggled with health issues. About 10 years ago, Daley, a diabetic, lost parts of both legs. He fought to stay out of a wheelchair, learning to walk on prosthetic limbs and joking about his peg legs.

“He wanted us to get him a parrot to put on his shoulder so he could be a pirate,” Dick said. “He never felt sorry for himself.”

Don Hawkins, a fellow Round-Up director and friend, visited Daley often in the hospital.

“He never complained,” Hawkins said. “There was no way you could get the best of him.”

Daley served as a Pendleton Round-Up director for eight years and announced the Heppner rodeo in the late 1960s. He led several community organizations as president – the Round-Up Hall of Fame, Mustanger Club and Mustanger Roping Club.

Daley requested no funeral or memorial service. Memorial donations can be made to Doernbecher’s Children’s hospital or a charity of choice.

Daley’s family invites anyone with stories or memories of Daly to e-mail them to joedaleyremembered@gmail.com” For a full obituary, see Page 5.