Joe’s wife and Marianne Anneli Flinkman Hooe were married November of 1989. She is a Finnish native who met Joe while studying in the United States as a foreign exchange student. Marianne was born in the town of Kotka (which means Eagle) located in the southwest region of Finland. She is the only Daughter of Anneli and Eino Flinkman.

Joe’s first biggest challenge in life was to persuade Marianne to give up her homeland for a life with him in the United States. While both of them agree that America is the best country in the world, Finland is definitely a very close second.

Joe and Marianne have two beautiful children. They are academically focused and well behaved. Maria currently attends MOUNT DeSales in her senior year and plans to go to college to study business or law. Mikael is a Mt. St. Joesph graduate, and a college mechanical engineering student at UMBC on his way to earning his masters degree. He is interested in working for a defense contractor or joining the military, possibly the Navy. Both children speak Finnish fluently and have traveled outside of the United States to learn about their family heritage as well as other cultures.