   Justin was a delightful child, even when he was very young. I remember once when he was about two, I lived in San Jose and he lived in Oroville, California.  He willingly got into the truck with my fiance - just the two of them - and drove about three or four hours to visit me in San Jose.  Guy said he played in the back of the van for awhile, then crawled into the passenger seat and rode awhile, and then went back and played awhile, and back, and back again. 
    Oroville was a small country town, and San Jose was a thriving metropolis. When they got into San Jose, Justin crawled into the front seat and said, "Beep! Beep! Honk! San Jose!" He then proceeded on to my house and when I opened the door, Guy said, "Here I am with my million dollar cargo." A child I worshipped.  I love him still. Gam

One winter during the early 2000s I was invited to spend Christmas time with Justin's family.    I hadn't known Justin that well yet so I had anxiety about spending time with my best friend's brother and not knowing what to expect.  

Justin's  hospitality was there right from the beginning.  One morning I was looking for a board game to play with everyone and after seeing all the usual games I found that he had a stash of Magic Cards (a strategy card game) . Without skipping a beat he offered to play  with me and even offered to have me build a deck out of his collection of cards to go up against his deck.   As nerdy as it sounded, I had a wonderful time. We played best of three, and we finished with him winning 2-1. That may have been the one and only time we played that card game - but he went out of his way to get to know me. As the years passed we would exchange chats about the joys of competition in tennis (my passion), and football (his passion). I will miss those conversations.

I did not really ever come to know Justin very well due to our living waaaay out of state in Michigan.  Seems like whenever I saw Justin, it was always with Casey being at least nearby.  I recall that Justin was always busy - sometimes this was good, and sometimes not so much. 

I do know that both Justin and Casey were one of the pride and joys in their father Toby's life. So it is with any father. But with my brother, it seemed like his sons were truly motivating to him providing some measure of a better life than I think he would have otherwise have had.  I recall several times at significant life events (new job, graduations, etc.) he burst with pride. Justin, I hope you can see your father in your new place - I know he would love to see you!

With Love & condolences....Uncle Dave. 

We met in high school... English class, I think. We shared first names and an outlook on life that required us to push the boundaries of what was polite... just a little... You taught me the basics of rolling dice. Hopefully, I taught you something in return. The week we spent in Stockton at your dad's place could have been any other summer week, destined to be forgotten among all of the others of our youth. Still, it lives on vividly in my memory to this day because of how much we laughed at each other, ourselves, and the world in general. Stacks of sourcebooks. Running from random gunfire. Finishing strangers' abandoned pizzas at Round Table and using their soda cups to get endless refills while we dreamed up worlds where the rogues were the heroes. Thanks, dude, for getting me like few others have.

I would like to tell a specific story about my brother, but all of them seem all of the following at once: incredibly important, incredibly trivial, and incredibly personal.  What I will say is this: my brother was a power house of a man.  His soul was beautiful and loving.  His affect was off putting and often angry.  But deep down inside my brother used certain parts of his personality to push away others for fear of being rejected for who he really was.  But the thing is that who he really was was absolutely beautiful and I wish I could share it with the world the way that he never could.  

I loved my brother deeply, I loved him desperately, and he protected me for 35 years.  Thank you, Justin.  I will always love you.  I will never forget you.  I will hold you close in my heart until I see you again.  And please don't mess up my reputation before I even arrive like you did in elementary school.

Growing up in a large family was always a blessing, but being able to have a childhood filled with running wild on the ranch with my cousins was something I will cherish always. One memory in particular was when my dad and Uncle Toby took Justin and I fishing. We were maybe only around 7 or 8 years old. During my first few attempts at casting my line on PePere's small aluminum boat, I managed to hook my Uncle Toby. I was mortified, but everyone else had a good laugh. It was then determined that Justin and I would be better off on the shoreline while they finished fishing. Big mistake. That was when war was waged...the biggest MUD WAR. Justin and I completely pummeled each other with stinky stagnant lake mud. We were covered head to toe. When our fathers returned from their fishing excursion, they were dumbfounded. They tossed us in the back of the truck and drove us back to the ranch. I am pretty sure our fathers didn't mind as much as my mom and our aunts did. We learned never to do the again, not because of the "trouble" we were in, but because we never wanted to get hosed off again by that frigid hose water.  Justin was a great cousin. I always looked up to him even though he was only a month older than me. I love him and will miss him tremendously. 

I have many good memories of Justin as a Dad but my favorite was him coming home after a three week shift at work and he had figure out how to make Giant Bubbles. It was the first thing he did after arriving home and the look on Toby’s face was priceless. He loved his son so very much and will be greatly missed by both of us. I loved watching him play with Toby, he was a fun Dad and gave Toby all the energy he had. We will always remember you for the fun, hilarious Father you were. 

He was a good mud engineer indeed. I learned a few things from him while working the mud pits on Ensign Rig 514. 

I remember that when I first got to Newpark, Justin was one of the first people to reach out to me. We quickly became friends and bonded over the things we liked outside of work. Football (him Dolphins and me Texans and how both teams constantly let us down lol), food, drinks, hanging out on patios, and eccentric vehicles. Justin, Martha, and I would often spend cool afternoons hanging out on patios around the city.
He and I would even drop breakfast surprises off on each other's desk in the mornings at work before the other one got there. Justin soon joined my other group of friends and was quickly welcomed in. I will always remember the kindness he showed me when we first me and continued show as our friendship grew. He was a fun, outgoing, hilarious person that deeply loved those he considered friends and would do anything for them. He will be missed but never forgotten. I pray he is at peace now and can rest easy......Go Dolphins!!!

 One of my favorite times with Justin happened when he was about five. Justin's father Toby worked out of town, and I lived with Beth and the boys during the week while Toby was gone. I remember sitting on the floor one day with Justin, and we were playing cards....Go Fish or something...and he asked me to teach him blackjack. So I did. And he learned all of the odds and knew when to hit and when to stay, and it was the most adorable, amazing thing. He was just a tiny boy....but sharp as a tack and he picked it up n nothing flat. I'll never forget sitting there and playing blackjack with him. When he was in eighth grade he came to live with me for awhile, and we watched Monty Python movies, and he could do the BEST impersonations of The Black Knight! He kept me laughing all the time! When Beavis and Butthead came out, he would imitate them, too, and I would laugh until I cried.
   More recently, Justin and Toby came to visit me after my divorce. The first time was near Christmas, and I really wanted to put up some old fashioned large Christmas lights around the house, so he and John and Toby went and bought some and put them up, and it was such a positive, festive evening. We had a trampoline set up, and he and Toby had so much fun on it that Justin went straight home and bought one. I have pictures of him that day.... we were all so happy.  A year later he came back to visit. We were in a different home then, and he showed Toby the Miner's lettuce growing in my yard and taught us all that it was edible. Justin and I shared a strong bond that cannot be broken even with his loss. He lives on in those of us who loved him... I cannot describe how much I loved him.

OBITUARY

Justin Asa Edwards

June 23, 1980 – June 13, 2018

Heights Funeral Home

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