Maybe Joe Socha's hard-working resourcefulness was a family trait.

The youngest child of Polish immigrants, Mr. Socha and his seven brothers and sisters ate bowl after bowl of potato soup growing up in Long Island, N.Y., because it was all the family could afford.

(ENLARGE)

Joseph Socha was a happy camper at his 80th birthday party in 2007. There to share in the festivities were his triplet sons Joe Jr. (from left), Richard and Michael.

Once Mr. Socha started cooking for his own family, "he could take anything in the refrigerator and whip something out of it," said his wife of 45 years, Rose Socha, of Lilburn.

But there was nothing thrown together in his presentation. Mr. Socha approached cooking like the skilled craftsman that he was.

"If he made soup, he would cut up every vegetable so perfectly that you'd swear it came out of a can, like he went to chef school or something," his wife said.

The funeral Mass for Joseph Stanley Socha is 10:30 a.m. today at St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic Church. Mr. Socha, 80, of Lilburn died of complications from cancer Monday at Peachtree Christian Hospice. Wages & Sons, Gwinnett Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Socha didn't learn to speak Polish; his parents wanted their children to assimilate into American culture. But he took pride in his Polish heritage and encouraged his grandchildren to call him the Polish term for grandfather.

Homemade pierogi, kielbasa and other Polish dishes were part of his culinary repertoire. But his pizzas were the stuff of family legend, and he loved to fire up the grill and cook steaks for friends.

Mr. Socha worked as a master plumber in Long Island before he moved to Georgia in 1980 to service and repair gasoline pumps. The set of skills he brought with him was as hefty as his toolbox.

"There was nothing he couldn't figure out," his wife said. "He could build things, he could do plumbing, he could do electrical work and fix anything."

"He was very meticulous," she said. "When he did something, he finished it."

His renovation jobs looked more polished than the original work he replaced. The playhouse and swing set he built for his grandchildren were so sturdy they could probably survive a tornado.

"If he built it, it was not coming down," his wife said.

Mr. Socha enjoyed sharing his expertise with his triplet sons — that is, once they settled down enough to listen.

"The three of us were quite a handful growing up, fighting all the time and stuff like that. And as we got older, we got into bigger and better forms of trouble," said his son Michael Socha of Social Circle. "But he had a lot more patience than I have with kids of my own."

"He was one of those people who could never be at a desk job. It always had to be hands-on with him," his son said. "Now I have my own company doing heating and air-conditioning work, and a lot of that comes from him — watching him get in there and work at something."

Mr. Socha was quiet by nature but would rush to do anything for any neighbor who asked, his wife said.

"That was the sad thing," she said, "because I don't think he realized how much people loved him and really appreciated him, because he was always in the background."

"He never liked dissension. He always liked harmony," his wife said. "He could never hold a grudge and never wanted to upset anybody.

"You could have the worst argument with him and then turn around tomorrow and ask a favor, and he would do it."

Survivors include two other sons, Joseph Socha of New Hyde Park, N.Y., and Richard Socha of Lilburn; a sister, Clare Tucker, of Stone Mountain; and two grandchildren.