EP 98: Joe McQuillen My Search For Christopher On the Other Side

My Search for Christopher on the Other Side, an unforgettable book of a father’s relentless love for his lost son, began on a freezing January morning in 2016. Joe McQuillen’s life was turned inside out when he received a call that his son, Christopher, along with three of his friends, was missing. They had been at a friend’s lake house, celebrating the end of Christmas break from college. Sometime during the evening of revelry, the four young men jumped into a canoe, paddled out onto the icy lake, capsized, and drowned. Christopher’s body was recovered first; the others over the next several dark days. Thus began Joe’s journey through grief, awakening, discovery and acceptance as he—through mediums, research and, eventually, direct communication—navigated his personal bridge to “the other side.”

Joe has been married for 27 years and is the father of three children, one on the “other side.” Joe was the youngest of 10 children from an Irish-Catholic family, and although he has had two successful careers, he is at heart a blue-collar kid from Buffalo, NY. Starting as a salesman, he spent 25 years in the automobile business, working his way up to executive manager and partner in a number of successful Chicagoland dealerships. After selling out in 2009, Joe began a second successful career as a mortgage broker and is currently with Chicago Financial Services.

Among his many charitable associations, Joe sits on the board of In Balance Ranch Academy, a boarding school dedicated to helping troubled teens with addiction. Following the loss of his son, he began running a charity golf outing to benefit both In Balance Ranch and Penguin Players, a theater troupe of disabled young adults.