ALUMNUS FOCUS: Mr. Joe 'Kool' Galindo

Photo: Mr. Joe Galindo, WBRC Alumnus & Poet

My name is Joe Galindo a.k.a. Joe Kool.  I served in the Army with the 82nd Airborne & with the 7th Special Forces Group for about 15 years.  I'm a Grenada vet & have a purple heart.  I love to write poetry & had 2 of my poems published.  I also love to draw, paint, & my favorite hobby is HO scale & N scale Amtrak trains.  The W.B.R.C. has been very helpful & good to me & all my fellow Vets that have been here.  That's why I call this place my home away from home.  W.B.R.C. staff is like my 2nd family & I love them all for being here to help us Vets.  My blindness has opened up a whole new world for me and I truly thank the Western Blind Rehabilitation Center.    

Two Poems follow below written by Joseph Galindo upon his WBRC Program Graduation in 2008 and 2013.

Putting Veterans First

There’s a place at the VA Palo Alto than many Vets will call home.

Veterans who come and go or been here before know of this place.

They have helped many Vets like me and you and continue to do so.

If you’re blind, going blind, low vision or somewhere in between, then this is where you need to be.

The will show you kindness, be caring, helpful, and always there for you.

The give you hope, respect, courage and real confidence with a new freedom.

They are dedicated, loyal, and trustworthy people who I will always remember.

You know who you are: nursing, mobility, staff, and all the other departments who make up the WBRC, a.k.a. WE BUILD REAL CONFIDENCE.

I will never forget my stay here of any of you.  Especially Yurika, Margaret, and Kristina.

And this will always be a place to me now that I can call home.

Words can never express how I feel for each and every one of you.

So I say to all of you from the bottom of my heart: I truly THANK YOU all so much for being here.

So may God take care and bless each and every one of you.

I know he blessed me when he sent me here to you.

Written by: Joseph P. Galindo Jr., 2008

Joe Kool Was Here & Chilled for a While

Came back for a computer class & stuck around for a little bit more.

I’m glad I came back, 'my home away from home'.

Met some old friends & made some new ones along the way.

It reminds me how much I miss all of you when I’m away.

Thanks to Daniel who has taught me so much more in my computer class.

He’s a real kool dude & an awesome teacher too.

To do the whole course again kind of takes me back down memory lane.

W.B.R.C. is the best of the best, coolest of the cool & all  my fellow Vets can say the same too.

So to each & every one of you, you know how I feel about the W.B.R.C.

I love you all, glad you’re around, keep up the good work & I’ll see you the next time around.

Joe Kool is packed up & ready to go home.

But my stay here with you is always so cool.

So as I say my goodbye’s I just want to say Thank You all for taking care of me & my fellow vets.

That’s why we love you all & call this ‘our home away from home’.

Remember me always as Joe Kool, a poet, an artist & one cool dude.

God bless, take care & you’re all like family to me.

Written by: Joseph P. Galindo Jr., 2013