All of my daycare babies hold a very special place in my heart. I can still quote 2 year old Joey! I still picture him in my mind that age - chubby cheeks, big blue eyes, freckles, and thick blond hair. He was so adventurous and clever even back then. He always used to start telling me something by saying, "Well actually..." It always made me smile. He was so precious, a one of a kind for sure! I remember Leann ALWAYS kneeling down on the floor or sitting in a tiny chair even in a skirt and heels to squeeze him tight and kiss his cheeks to tell him she loved him madly and to assure him that she would be loving him as she left for work each morning.  Joey knew he was loved beyond measure. I send prayers everyday for his family to find strength and healing.

All my love,

Miss Ellen

Joey and Dylan on the nature trail

We all went in a white water rafting trip on 4th of July weekend in 2019. 

I just remember Joey of all people being so excited and happy about being surrounded by nature and visiting a new place we had never been before. We woke up one morning and walked around in the woods and around the campground for multiple hours just taking in all of our surroundings.

 We then went on our rafting trip which was about 6 hours long the next day. I just remember the amount of joy every one of us had that day and it’s something I will never forget and I am glad I have so many memories with Joe including this one.

When Joe just got some new shoes and put the sticker from the box on his car 🤣

Baby Jay’s grad party 07/29/23, not sure who planned it. Joey and Dylan decided they were going to throw Rachel in the pool. Rachel was not having it, Joey didn’t give up he continued until he threw her in the pool. Several others will thrown in the pool after that.

Baby Jay’s grad party 07/29/23, not sure who planned it. Joey and Dylan decided they were going to throw Rachel in the pool. Rachel was not having it, Joey didn’t give up he continued until he threw her in the pool. Several others will thrown in the pool after that. — with Joey

The flowers Joey brought me

Just another story of the kindest soul. My mom passed away unexpectedly 4 days before Joey. The next day Joey woke Baby Jay up and asked him if he was going to go to my work with him. He then went and got me flowers, Swedish fish,  Queso and chips from Atwater,  and a tea from BeWell. All of my favorites! Then came and sat with me for hours, he wouldn’t leave until I did. We will forever miss you ❤️❤️❤️

Joey was always goofy💕

Joey had Mrs. Bachand for honors biology, so I never officially taught him in a class. Mrs. B had been sick and had to miss several days of class. She asked me to do notes with her honors class so they would be ready for an activity when she returned. I have a habit of interjecting jokes without changing my facial expressions or tone. Deadpan is a lost art or a weird compulsion in my case. My students get used to this quirk, chuckle and we move on. Mrs. B’s class did not know what to make of this, except Joey. Joey got it. He smiled and shook his head as I made random quips. He then commented on one of the jokes to draw attention to it. He started making his own commentary each time I would mutter my little side notes. The rest of the class started giggling, but also watching me to see how I reacted.  Eventually we picked up a string were we could play off each other’s commentary for a few lines. So we went back and forth for a minute and laughed and got back to the lesson. Joey wasn’t trying to be rude or disruptive. He just wanted everyone to be in on the jokes.  Instead of just him and a couple of other students cracking a smile every once in a while when I would say something add libbed, Joey made it so everyone was having fun. 

A sticky note Joey wrote to me in eighth grade. He picked and taped flowers to the backside of the note. Joey has always been so thoughtful in how he loves his friends.

Friday night football games!

Moments before we screamed our heads off and made as much noise as we possibly could as eight grade Sabers. Pep rally’s were always better by your side.

Joey has been one of my biggest supporters since day one. Whether he was cheering me on at my volleyball games or calling me to ask about my day, I could always count on JoJo to be there no matter what.

Joey had these bottles that would shoot water from the mouthpiece by squeezing it just a little. I remember being trapped on the couch many times in hurricane Joseph for various reasons. One thing never changed. There was always an ‘I’m innocent’ smile after emptying out the entire bottle!

Joey always wanted to be around Claire and photobomb our photos

I had Joey in one of my gym classes in what must have been his winter semester 8th grade year. One of the sports units we had that class was volleyball. Thack had 3 sets of nets set up and the teams would rotate around and all play each other. For whatever reason, it may have been a sprained wrist, Joey decided that using your arms while playing volleyball wasn’t something he was willing to do. So he spent an entire gym class using his legs to play volleyball. Anytime he got the ball he’d either kick it over the net (often times way too hard and giving the other team a point) or setting it up to one of us with his knee. For what it’s worth, it took a ton of athleticism to do and we did win, but Thackery was annoyed at him and I believe he joined the next team that played against us.

Joey’s soul was beautiful and his caring and selfless personality is something I’ll never forget 🤍 My favorite memories are in 2019, working on the school dinner theatre and spring play. I remember one day in dance class our task was to come up with different dance swing tricks and the laughter that came from the trial and error of learning these tricks were unmatched 😂 Some days I would really come into class and say hey y’all I saw this cool trick on tiktok let’s try it out and Joey would be all about it and would know how to do the trick by the end of the hour. Determined, goofy, genuine, sweet sweet Joey. I’m very grateful to have met him in this lifetime fr. Rest in Peace hun💛

I had a massive crush on Joe when we were kids and this one time me and him and I believe Jonah Mahon were in joey’s garage. I was nervous cause joey pulled up a chair so we could sit next to each other and I was so awkward. Conversation was flowing ,we were all joking having a good time but then Joey starting getting quiet and he turns to me and said “hey Elliah did you know I went fishing ?” “I caught a huge fish guess how big it was?”Me oblivious I say “idk how big ?” And he scoots closer to me ,puts his hand out like he’s measuring and says “my fish was thisssssss big.” As he puts arm around me and pulled me in.I remember I was so happy and my face got beat red but let me tell ya ,he thought he was so charming and clever and he sure was.

I had thre honor of teaching Joey for his first year of high school math. I got to watch him build his confidence throughout the school year. He put in a lot of effort and that first smile I got to see from that confidence of knowing HE figured it out was something I will never forget.

Funny memory…I noticed he was “distracted,” in class one time (chatting or something) but it was when he was supposed to be writing and I just kind of let him do his thing and turned back to what I was doing. I made my way over to him within a minute or so and whispered, “I see everything.” He smiled but straightened right up and got on task. He was such a great kid. 

I had him for that one school year, but man…what an impact he had on my life too. He will never be forgotten. 

Joey was such a fun person to be around . He would light the room up just by making jokes and entertaining everyone in the room. Biggest memory scrimmaging the boys varsity team and him playing against us. Such a fun moment.