Joseph Gill was born a healthy baby boy on October 21 of 1930 in Lander, Wyoming. He was the son of Frank and Genevieve Gill. In December or January of 1931/1932, the family contracted Scarlet Fever. It is believed that his brother Jim contracted the illness Christmas week. Siblings Mary, Frank Jr, and himself then became ill. Later on, brother Ted became ill as well. Their mother, Genevieve, was sent to the hospital as she was about to give birth to their next child, Joanne. Frank Sr rented a room to stay in in Lander so that he could continue working running his store and not be quarantined. The family could not afford to have him not work. The family was quarantined in the house where no one was allowed to come or go. The family hired a local nurse to care for the sick children as Genevieve was in the hospital giving birth and Frank Sr. was in town working. Frank would come by every morning to say hello through the window and check on the kids.

The older children, Mary and Frank, were able to receive a serum that was believed to have helped. Unfortunately, Joe was too young to receive the serum. On the morning of January 13, 1932, the nurse found him to have passed away in his crib sometime during the night. The official cause of death was endocarditis due to Scarlet Fever. That day, the nurse prepared him for burial and the mortician delivered a casket to the home through the window. The risk of infection was so great that he needed to be buried the same day. The children and nurse helped pass him out of the house. He was buried that same evening at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lander, Wyoming. The ground was frozen and dynamite had to be used to prepare the ground. His mother Genevieve was unable to be at his burial as she was still in the hospital recovering from giving birth.

The family resources were stretched thin and a headstone was never able to be purchased in the cemetery marking his resting place. In the 1940's, the family moved to Cheyenne where Frank Sr. opened a dry cleaning business, and the whole family was raised. None of the family ever moved back to Lander. In 2020, while doing genealogy research, members of the extended family discovered that Little Joe did not have a headstone. This wasn't widely known by the next generation of family members. Joe's nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews pooled together funds to finally purchase the grave marker that he deserved. On the back of the headstone, the family included the names of his brothers and sisters, so the it would always be known that he was a part of this large, wonderful family.

Although Joe's story is incredibly tragic, it is also a testament to the strength and resilience of the Gill family. They pulled together through an unthinkable tragedy and continued to move forward. Joe was affectionately referred to as "Little Joe" by his loving family. He is remembered and honored to this day by the many children and grandchildren of the members of his family - all of whom are his nieces and nephews. He is loved very much and never forgotten.