Joseph W. Alderman, 90, of Winchester, Virginia, died Saturday, June 4, 2022, after an arduous battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. In 1966, Alderman, then a 35-year-old engineer-geologist,
saved a 16-year-old girl who struggled in a water-filled gravel pit in Piketon, Ohio. Alderman swam, fully clothed, 150 feet to the girl who struggled with him before fainting. He towed her to the bank where she was revived. Alderman was born in August, 1931, in Wooster, Ohio, to Ovid A. and Ruth Alderman. He graduated in 1949 from Wooster High School. He was a Boy Scout and pitched for the school baseball team. After high school, he served in the Air Force from 1953 to 1955, where he attended weather school. After marrying Barbara Frederick in 1960, he earned a B.A. in geology from the College of Wooster in 1961. Joe worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a geologist for 45 years and retired in 1996. Flying was Joe’s passion. He racked up many hours in small private planes, towing banners over football games, and sharing ownership of planes with friends at the Winchester airport. He was also a flight instructor. He was also
an accomplished nature photographer. Alderman is survived by his wife; children, Karen Todd, Fritz Alderman, and Mark Alderman; grandchildren, Ashley Alderman, Kevin and Ivy Todd; and step-grandchildren Julianna and Samantha Clark.