Joe Oberloier

Robert J. Oberloier “Joe” was born on August 4th 1962 in Bellavue, Washington to Patricia Sue Bailey Miller. He was the 2nd youngest of Patricia’s 6 children; Mary, Bill, Tim, Michael, and Patrick. Joe spent his early youth in Clare, Michigan and then moved to Beaverton where he spent the remainder of his childhood.

As a child, Joe loved building, exploring, tinkering and fixing things. His step-father owned Lyle Industries at the time, and Joe enjoyed following him around, sweeping the floors, and learning all about thermoforming and plastics. He began his career at Lyle, setting up, maintaining, and fixing thermoforming machines.

Joe moved to Minnesota as a mechanical engineer for UltraPac, where he continued to travel and fix thermoforming machines around the world. While living in Minnesota, he got married and had two daughters, PJ & Gigi. Joe was a dreamer, and a doer and in 1995 decided to move back to Beaverton to start his own thermoforming company, Packaging Direct, which specialized in fresh fruit and vegetable packaging.

In 2005, Joe sold Packaging Direct and enjoyed spending his days farming hay, doing pottery, and volunteering at PJ and Gigi’s school. Joe’s “retirement” years didn’t last long. He bought Ray’s Bike Shop in 2010. He worked tirelessly to build the business and made Ray’s the “coolest” bike store around, expanding to three stores in Bay City, Midland, and Clare.

In 2015, Joe couldn’t resist the urge to get back into the plastics industry and started Cam Packaging. This time, instead of designing and selling his own products, the company focused on running parts for large companies needing extra production capacity. The company was a success and in 2022 Joe sold it to Inline Plastics.

When Joe wasn’t building his businesses or fixing machines, he enjoyed pottery, stained glass, photoshop, sign making and doing projects around his property and cabin.

Joe was a relentless creator and maker, but what he loved most was his grandkids. Joe was affectionately known as “Grandpa Boo” and was an amazing grandpa. He had many silly nicknames for his grandkids and would often spend time with them playing, making up stories, reading books, and coloring.

After a 6-year battle with cancer, Joe passed away on August 19, surrounded by his family. He was a great dad and will be greatly missed by his daughters, PJ and Gigi and his 4 grandkids. His funeral will take place on Sunday, August 23rd at 3:30pm at Hall Kokotovich Funeral Home in Gladwin. Visitation will begin at 2:00pm. Arrangements are in the care of Hall-Kokotovich Funeral Home. www.hallkokotovichfuneralhome.com