Joel Bryant Rush

My heart is broken. I have now lost my husband and my son. In the past weeks I have learned so much about Joel and what he meant to so many people. I saw grown men hug him because they loved and respected him not because he was their friend or colleague but because they genuinely saw him as a brother.

The past few weeks so many of his friends from childhood and his work have been there for him either here at the house or at Mayo or hospice. How lucky he was to have such a cadre of friends,

If you don’t know Joel . Here is a capsule about him. Jim and I had this beautiful blue eyed blond haired boy. Jim was so proud. He grew up in Fruit Cove , went to school at Julington Creek, played Little league at Mills field, became a Boy Scouts and made it all the way to Eagle. He made lifelong friends on the way and graduated from Nease High School. In college he worked extended day at Loretto elementary. Again he made wonderful friends. He graduated from UNF and taught at Don Brewer then came home to Loretto. He understood all the educational jargon that most of us roll our eyes at in meetings. I always said he got the best of Jim and I when it came to teaching.

He loved the Seminoles and FSU. We spent many a Saturday at Doak Stadium. I saw him in tears when we lost the first wide right game. He was Mr. Statistics and drove me crazy with them.

He loved scouting, camping, fishing, the stars , rafting, our home in the mountains.

He loved all our dogs but his favorite is the one beside me now , his Noel.

His grandparents lived on a couple of acres on Lofton Creek . He spent many weekends with them and his cousin Samantha. He learned to hunt, fish and drive his parents nuts because his grandfather had gotten him a new machete or rifle or let him drive a car on the backroads at fourteen.

Joel and I spent many nights outside looking at the sky. We discussed so many issues. As he became an adult, less time with us and more times with friends. The past couple years I listen to Joel and his friends and realized that I didn’t know everything about him nor did I want to.

The past four years he has fought a monster called cancer. One of his good friends got him into Mayo and Dr. Starr ‘s group. He made friends there too. They gave him four years instead of two months. Thank you. Unfortunately while at the cabin this summer Joel’s body finally gave out and it has been a struggle. Thank you Dr. Starr and Stephanie, you were always in Joel’s corner.

Which brings me to the wonderful staff at Loretto. Thank you for loving my son . So many of you have shown such love and compassion for him. Joel’s heart will always be there with you.

My life is altered forever I got to love this human being since his conception. He called me Carol but he meant Mama. He was my darling blue eyed, blond haired boy with an infectious smile and a witty sense of humor. When I go to my rest I’ll be between my two favorite guys at a perpetual FSU football ballgame and one will be telling me statistics while the other talks about the plays. But right now I miss my guys horribly.