Joshua Josh David Layman

We just wanted to give you a little information and short biography of Josh. Josh had a wonderful life. He had ups and downs, like any teenager, but had two loving families, and lots of friends in his neighborhood and at school. When he died, over 1000 people came to the funeral home to pay their respects, including almost every teacher he had from Kindergarten through High School. He was just one of those all around good kids who got along well with adults and friends his own age. He was a sweet and caring young man who was loved by family and friends. He played sports (football and wrestling) and was also in Band (trumpet). He loved to joke around, and make his friends smile. Josh loved history, and read everything he could get his hands on about World War II and the old west, and also spent hours playing his guitar in his room. His favorite class in school was art, as he loved to draw and had talent at it. Josh liked to go hiking with his mom and to Predators hockey games. He had a great time hunting and fishing with his dad. He bow-hunted and liked to spend time in the woods scouting out the best places for deer. In elementary school, Josh won several academic awards, including a Geography bee. He liked to travel, and had been to almost all 50 states with his mom, and his maternal grandparents. Josh always scored really well on achievement tests (98th percentiles), but made a wide range of grades. He didn't like to do homework in subjects that didn't interest him, so let his grades slide in those areas. His teachers liked him, because he was well-behaved, but would make comments on his report card about him needing to match his effort to his potential and ability. He was working on that, and making progress. He just didn't worry about it as much as his mom (the teacher) would have liked him to, but therein lay some of his charm, his ability to not sweat the small stuff in life.

Josh was a member of the class of 2010. Josh wanted to go to Vanderbilt or a big school in another state, and become a history professor or an architect. He always wanted to be certified in heating and air conditioning, so he could help his dad, too. He always talked about being a professor and having a part-time heating and air conditioning business on the side.

Faith was an important part of Josh's life. He went to church with his mom at Hermitage Presbyterian, and with his dad at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church. When Josh was nine, he experienced salvation and was baptised and became a member at Hopewell. He always had a firm belief and faith in God, and was open-minded and accepting of different faiths.

Josh loved big cities, wide open spaces, museums, and amusement parks. One of his mom Joy's favorite trips with him was a trip she and Josh took to Chicago by themselves when Josh was almost nine to see "Sue", the t-rex at Field Museum. Josh was fascinated with dinasaurs at that time, and also spent almost an hour in the rocks and minerals room (Joy going along, even though they all just looked like different colored rocks to her.)

Josh always said he would love to live in a small town, just outside a big city. It would be the best of both worlds he was raised in, city and country. He loved going to car shows, hiking, going bowling, going to Predators games, Titans games, and going to work out at the YMCA. His favorite sandwich was a patty melt, and his favorite dessert was pumpkin pie. He ate really fast, and his mom was always prodding him to "slow down" and also to "sit up straight". She also had to remind him to take a shower and wash his hair. Some things are universal with teenagers. He loved going to the movies, both with friends, and with his family. He loved to play board games at home, especially Scrabble, and Chess. He was so pleased when he could get a higher score than his mom, the Scrabble buff, and wasn't above cheating a little, if he thought no one was looking.

Josh’s best friends at school were Taylor and James. Taylor lived in the same subdivision with Josh in Hermitage, TN, and every afternoon, when they got off the bus they either came to Josh's house, or went to Taylor’s house and raided the snack jars. Josh loved to go with Taylor on Wednesday nights to Taylor’s church youth group (Donelson Church of Christ), and even went on some retreats with them. Taylor felt like a son to Josh's family, and Josh felt like a son to Taylor’s family, too.

More general bio info: Josh was born at Hardin Memorial Hospital, in Elizabethtown, KY on November 25, 1991 to Scott and Joy Layman. He was their only child. He went to Kindergarten through 3rd grade in Brownsville, KY, then 5th - 9th in Nashville, TN Josh was in the Scholar’s Program at McGavock High School in the 9th grade when he died. Josh loved his family & friends. He will be missed, but his smile will light up our hearts forever. Josh's mom Joy is a school counselor, and former elem school teacher. She was Josh's 3rd grade teacher. Josh and Joy laughed a lot about that through the years. They used to live close to Mammoth Cave park, and went hiking 3-4 times per week over there. Josh’s parents divorced when he was six. He moved to Nashville with his mom when he was 9, when she got a job teaching 3rd grade at Walton Ferry Elem in Hendersonville, TN. Joy, Josh's mom, got remarried when Josh was eleven, to Tom Guss, who had three children, Lindsey, David, and Hannah. Joy and Tom had one child, Riley, after the marriage. Josh was a great stepbrother, and loved being a big brother to Riley. Riley's favorite memory of Josh is him putting on puppet shows for her.

Josh's dad Scott, also got remarried, to Wilma Pedigo, when Josh was six and a half. Wilma had two children, Lindsey and Kimmie, who became stepsisters to Josh. Scott and Wilma live in Grayson County, Kentucky. Scott is a heating and air conditioning technican. Josh loved to go work with his dad. His parents had joint custody, and Josh lived with his mom during the week, and went to his dad's almost every weekend. Josh's grandparents are Danny and Sue Layman of Caneyville, KY, A.J. and Jo Etta Johnson of Chalybeate, KY, and also Bob and Janet Foy of Old Hickory, TN. They are all very nice people, who loved and spent time with Josh.

A note from Josh's mom Joy:

Many people assume when I tell them Josh died in a car accident, that he was driving, but he wasn't. No one was doing anything wrong, it was just one of those accidents that happen because people are in a hurry and aren't being cautious. Josh had gotten permission from me to go to his friend James' house, and Lale (James' mom) took them to Taco Bell, because they were hungry (Is there ever a time teenage boys aren't hungry?). They were on the way home, and Layle was getting ready to turn left on Lebanon Road (she had a green arrow turn signal), when an SUV trying to beat the yellow light came through the intersection, and t-boned Lale's car. Josh had his seatbelt on, and so was held against the side where the car got hit. He died almost instantly, and the paramedics told us that the rush of adrenaline his body would have produced, would have prevented him from feeling any pain in the few moments he was alive before he died. If he had to leave us, I'm thankful he didn't suffer. I wish I could have held and comforted him in that moment, but know that Jesus was there to do that for me. My Josh was laid back, loved to be a peacemaker, and always wanted to make people laugh and smile. He was very popular at school, both with kids and teachers. He was very good to his little sisters at both houses. He was always so proud of both homes. He frequently said he came from two happy homes, not one broken one. Josh was an only child the first six years of his life. His dad got remarried when he was seven, and his stepmom had two little girls close to his age. I got remarried when Josh was eleven to Tom Guss, who was a wonderful stepfather to Josh. Tom had three children, two of whom (David and Hannah) still lived at home at the time. Josh got to share a room with David, and looked up to him a lot. When I was pregnant with Riley, Josh wished for a boy, but bragged about his little baby sister at school all the time to his friends once she arrived here.

He was so loved, and when he died, he was right on the verge of manhood. That year, I had begun to have conversations with him, where I would see he was moving from child to adult in the way he approached problems and situations. He was so smart, wise beyond his years in some ways. Every morning, I would go in his room, sit on his bed and scratch his back to wake him up for school, and talk to him for a few minutes (yes - I loved to spoil my boy). He liked to be touched, and was the first to hug a friend or say “I love you Mom. I love you Dad.” He was dependable, a little lazy about homework and chores, but always asked permission to do things and left notes if he went to Taylor’s or James' houses before we got home from work. Even when he was a little kid, 3-4 years old, I never worried about taking him anywhere, because I knew he would have good manners and be well-behaved, and that was a constant up to his very last minute on this earth. Such a sweet one, my boy. He liked to comfort others and keep the peace.

Those of us that knew and loved him were given a wonderful gift by God that we got to treasure for fifteen brief years. We want to celebrate what a wonderful life he shared with us, and thank everyone who expressed kindness towards Josh during his life, and to our family at the time of his death. If you have special memories of fun times with Josh, please feel free to share them here. We will miss his sweet smile forever. Please help us celebrate his life. Thank you for helping us through this difficult time. The car Josh was in was at the intersection beside our church right before it got hit, and according to Lale, James' mom, who was driving and survived the crash, Josh’s last words were, “There’s my church (HPC). Well, actually, it’s my mom’s church. I guess I can’t claim it since I’m a Baptist.” What a sweetie-pie. I’m glad he was thinking of family and church-happy things at his last moment before Jesus took him home.

Josh's obit: Joshua David Layman "Josh": Survived by mother & stepfather: Joy & Tom Guss: father & stepmother: Scott & Wilma Layman. Brothers & Sisters: Lindsey A., David, Lindsey P, Kimmy, Hannah, & Riley. Grandparents: A.J. & Jo Etta Johnson, Danny & Sue Layman, & Bob & Janet Foy. And many Uncles, Aunts & Cousins. Services will be held 11 am Saturday at Patton Funeral Home in Brownsville, Ky . with Pastor Jim Moran and Bro. Malcolm Doyle officiating. Interment to be held at Silent Grove Cemetery (by Mammoth Cave National Park) with family & friends serving as pallbearers. Visitation with family Thursday from 1-9 pm at Hibbett & Hailey Funeral Home in Donelson, TN and at Patton Funeral Home in Brownsville, KY Friday from 10-9 pm & Saturday from 9 am till 11 am . Hibbett & Hailey Funeral Home 429 Donelson Pike Nashville Tn. 615- 883-2361 tributes at www.mem.com

Submitted by Joy Guss, Josh's loving mother