Brande Voss remembers her cousin Joey

Brande remembering my dear cousin Joey

Joey was and will always be my cousin. I’m 13 years older then Joey and live 300 miles away, so I haven’t been around to see the handsome, funny & loving man Joey had become till I came home for Adrianna’s wedding. When I first saw Joey and his amazing smile in March, I gave him a hug and told him how handsome he was, and his response was “I know, the girls love me” and we laughed together. Then he looked at my twin sons, Tyler & Trevor who are 5 years old and started talking “star wars” talk with them, at that point my boys made a new best friend. I remember a Joey, who loved to play baseball, loved to dirt bike ride, loved to swim and loved to just have fun. Joey and my husband Jeff would talk for hours about dirt bike riding; Joey loved to talk anything that revolved around sports. I remember a time about 4 years ago when the family came to Los Angeles for a family vacation, they stopped over night at my house and the first thing Joey wanted to do was go swimming and see how fast he could go down my slide, and sure enough he was flying down my slide having a blast, then uncle Joe wanted to see how fast he could go and who could make the biggest splash…I really enjoyed this time with my cousin. I only wish in my heart that I could have spent more time with Joey, seeing him at Adri’s wedding having the time of his life dancing, laughing, socializing with everyone is how I remember my cousin Joey. Leaving the wedding, saying my good-bye’s I never could have imagined that I would never see my cousin again, never see his amazing beautiful smile or his big brown eyes. I wake up every morning and think of Joey, what I think is this…When I told my little boys about what happened to mommy’s cousin, Trevor looked at me and said “mommy, god took Joey because when Joey went to heaven Cody (our dog who passed away a year ago) was there to meet him, and now the 2 of them are running and playing ball together on a big green field” I looked at my little boy and said “you are exactly right sweetie” so this is what I see when I see my cousin.

Joey was taken from our family much too soon. I pray every morning and every night for my Uncle Joe, Aunt Toni, my cousins Adrianna & John, Virginia and Michelle. Joey was loved so very much by his family & friends. I miss you and love you Joey…Justice for Joey

Lots of Love,
Jeff, Brande, Tyler & Trevor