Joe Inman & The Lost Interview
Joe Inman is a founding member of the Skating Club of Northern Virginia and has been involved in the sport of figure skating since the age of 10. During his college years, he competed as a pairs skater. He was a Judge at the National, World and Olympic level until his retirement in 2016.
He has been a Technical Controller, Referee and on the OAC (Official Assessment Committee) in singles and pairs. Inman was very involved in developing the components criteria in the International Judging Standards. This interview was right after the Grand Prix Finals in Tokyo in 2005.
Joe and Diana first met in the late 1960s or early 1970s when he was a percussionist in The US Army Band (Pershing’s Own) in Washington, DC. She enjoyed watching him skate to unwind recalling a magnificent ad-lib routine he did to one of the slow movements of either the Mahler 3rd or 9th Symphony.
Two other fond memories she mentioned over the decades was his falsetto rendition with the Army Band of Brünhilde’s solo in Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner and their cooking sessions which more than once degenerated into mock-fights on her front lawn where they’d fling meringue dough at each other.
Upon her death, Joe e-mailed:
“Diana was so special to me when I needed someone to validate my existence on this Earth as a gay man. She encouraged me in so many ways. I adored her and she knew it. We had fun together, as she loved to ‘play’ …”
He went on to say,
“She was a genius at being able to take any situation and make something out of it that would leave you scratching your head about what happened. Those days were some of the best of my life. I will ALWAYS remember her for that and did tell her this once — can’t remember when, but I know I did wax eloquent to her about her many God-given gifts.”
Joe is mostly retired except for teaching piano at his studio in Arlington, VA.
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