Centreville's Joe Vacca was just 19 and his dreams were coming true. He was about to get his GED and he'd just begun his own business.
But his life was tragically cut short in a freak accident, Saturday morning, at the Chantilly Country Club on Braddock Road. He and another man, Peter Sundholm, 35, of Woodbridge, both died when the "cherry picker" construction crane they were in tipped over and they fell to the ground.
"Joey was an entrepreneur, full of fire and ambition," said his older sister Shawna, 30, of Chicago. "He'd just started a construction business, a few days before he died, with the guy who was in the bucket with him."
Based in Centreville, it was called Cara Construction Co. and, according to Fairfax County police, the men had been working at the country club for two weeks. Police say they were painting the back of a building there while elevated in the crane, around 11:05 a.m., when the tragedy occurred. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Vacca, of the Willoughby Woods community, is the son of Julia and Michael Vacca of Centreville. He also has a sister Andrea, 18, of the home, and a brother, Josh Dindlebeck, 27, of Woodbridge. And, said Shawna, he doted on his niece — Josh's daughter, born in April.
THE FAMILY LIVED here since 1992 and, although Joe didn't graduate from Centreville High, he'd finished his education and was supposed to receive his GED, this Friday. And after working a variety of jobs, he was finally becoming his own master.
"He must have worked 70 hours a week," said Shawna. "We didn't see him at Thanksgiving because he was so busy working." However, she added, "He always made time for me when I came in from Chicago. Joey was my 'baby.' I took care of him when he was a baby because my parents were working. He very rarely showed me his bad side — I only saw the good in him."
Describing him as generous, trusting and sensitive, she said her little brother "would give the shirt off his back to anybody." He also had great imagination and curiosity. "He liked to tear things apart and figure out how they worked," said Shawna. "One day, in his early teens, he went to a yard sale and dragged home an old typewriter and tweaked it. He also picked up old computers to fix."
She said Joe was a "bundle of energy" and always had big plans. "When he was 14, he started his own lawn-mowing business and had business cards printed up," said Shawna. "He was fiercely independent and devoted to work."
Later came jobs at Sheetz in Manassas Park, helping prevent thefts, and as concession-stand team leader at the Centreville Multiplex Cinemas. Most recently, he'd worked in construction, full-time, for William Hazel.
IN HIS FREE TIME, Joe liked tinkering with cars. In fact, said his sister, he seemed happiest with his hair messed up and his hands and face covered with grease — it meant he was working hard.
His death devastated his family. When someone from the construction site called his mother with the news, said Shawna, "None of us believed it, at first." They bid him farewell Thursday morning, July 24, during services at Jefferson Funeral Chapel in Alexandria. Burial followed at Fairfax Memorial Park.
But they'll always remember the person he was and the dreams he held dear. "He had his office set up at home and his files in his car," said Shawna, proudly. "He was starting his own business at 19 — he really was on that path."