Joshua David Birrell, 19, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, January 7, 2020.  Visitations will be from 5-7 PM Friday, January 17th and 9-10 AM Saturday, January 18th.  Funeral Services will be 10:00 AM Saturday, January 18th, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 7100 Hadley Street, Overland Park, KS 66204.  Josh’s health challenges prevented his family from being able to procure life insurance for him, so in lieu of flowers the family suggests a memorial contribution to his funeral fund.

Josh was born March 30, 2000, in Provo, Utah.  He graduated from Shawnee Mission North High School and was currently attending the Post-High Program for Individuals with Disabilities at Shawnee Mission South High School.

Josh LOVED people.  To him a stranger was merely a friend he hadn’t met yet.  Once he got to know you, he’d get your phone number and then call and send funny texts and goofy selfies regularly.  He brightened the lives of everyone around him with his ability to see past outward appearances and focus on the heart.  He had the most infectious smile & laugh, and you couldn’t help but feel bright and sunny around him.  He gave others this gift, even when he himself was suffering quietly in more pain than we ever realized.

Josh absolutely loved basketball, and when he wasn’t shooting hoops himself, he was busy watching BYU basketball game re-runs over and over and over…and over!  Jimmer Fredette was his hero and so we nicknamed him “Josher Fredette.”  He even wrote it on his seizure helmet in big, puffy alphabet stickers. 😊  He was proud of how many “3-pointers” he could make and would brag about the number of points he’d made in games… always rounding up (of course!).  He LOVED church ball and lived for the tournaments every year.  He got to play and star in a couple Special Olympics-sponsored tournaments, too.  For a while we lived across the street from a basketball court, and he’d be over there every day shooting hoops, for hours, no matter the weather.  Recently we’ve learned from many people we thought were strangers whose lives Josh had touched through “shooting hoops “(Josh’s phrase) with them.

Josh loved mowing lawns.  He killed our lawn one summer because he mowed it every.single.day!  He loved mowing so much that he got his own Honda lawnmower for his 13th birthday, which may have been one of his favorite gifts ever, and then wouldn’t let anybody else touch it!  We had to tell him he could ONLY mow the lawn twice a week, but he’d often try to find a way to get around that.  He also loved to mow his friends’ yards, and for a few summers if we couldn’t find him on a bright Saturday morning, if we went toward wherever we could hear the hum of a lawnmower, we’d usually find him either hanging around watching or trying to get the homeowner to let him mow FOR them!

Josh was obsessed with Walmart trucks and was constantly looking up pictures of them on the internet to print out OR watching intently the oncoming traffic while we were driving anywhere so he could get a picture of one as it passed by.

Josh loved spicy food and ate flaming hot Cheetos by the bagful!  His red handprints could be found all over the house in his attempt to wipe the red dust off his fingers.  He put hot sauce on EVERYTHING, including his oatmeal!  Oatmeal with cream and hot sauce…. Breakfast of champions!

From an early age, Josh was close to the Lord.  He would watch General Conference for hours at a time, and then innocently mimic the elderly speakers at the pulpit on Fast Sundays when he bore his testimony, to the amusement of all who watched him.  We often heard from members of our congregations how much they loved hearing him speak and the beautiful things he had to say, though we were never quite sure what was going to come out of his mouth!  Two days before his passing, he bore a powerful testimony of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ and encouraged the rest of us to find our own, too.

Josh had physical & mental limitations his whole life, but that did not stop him.  As one dear friend put it, “Josh LOVED life, no matter what his circumstances, and he showed the rest of us how to love life, too.”

Josh is preceded in death by his paternal grandfather and maternal uncle.  He is survived by his parents, Jon & Kelley (Drury) Birrell, his younger siblings, Matthew, Benjamin, and Rachel, his paternal grandmother, both his maternal grandparents, 6 uncles, 6 aunts, and 25 cousins.

Josh will bless the lives of another nearly 2000 people by donating many of his organs and tissues.  We are grateful for the knowledge that he will continue to bring love and life to others, even after his passing.