Almost a year to this very day I was writing about one of my best friends from Virginia who died while serving in Afghanstan. Now on practically the same weekend just one year later, I lose a friend from High School in a snowmobiling accident. Man in a small town of 3,000 people, things like this hit like a stomach punch and when there are only 50 kids in each high school class, its such a close nit family its indescribable what this does. To rub salt in it, his mom was just having stem cell therapy for cancer. This article is pretty long, and posting this article serves no real purpose since none of you knew him. But I thought it was a beautiful article and its my small way of saying if there is a god up there, well, go fvck yourself and leave me alone next year.
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Farewell to an athlete, an artist
Family, friends mourn man killed in accident
By ALLISON STEELE
Monitor staff
CONTOOCOOK - Like his sense of humor, his relentless athleticism, the pranks he played on his many friends and the trademark smirk that sometimes made him look like he knew everything, Josh Russell's approach to building a wall could not be contained. Russell, a stone craftsman, needed a canvas as large as his own mind, and he would often spread four or five truckloads of granite stones on the ground so he could survey them all at once.
Late at night, said his girlfriend, Angela Wright, he would wake up knowing which stone he needed next.
"It was like watching him put together a jigsaw puzzle," she said. "And when he was done it would look like it had always been there. And every time you look at it, you see Josh."
Russell built his art this way, creating granite designs all over Hopkinton that have become monuments to his life in the days since he died in a snowmobile accident. Those who love him see him in the curbs around the fountain in center of town, the counters in the town clerk's office and in the low stone walls that surround many of the town's houses. He was a perfectionist, they say, and had found success in crafting antique granite because he had found something he loved.
"There wasn't one day or one second that he didn't really live, because he understands how to live," his father, Peter Russell, said yesterday. "He's so much smarter than I am that way - If he needed to go fly fishing at a pond somewhere in Maine for a week, he'd go fishing. And he'd go in the middle of the summer, which was his busiest time of year. Because he knew that was how you had to live."
Joshua David Russell, 29, was traveling through Maine with three of his friends Sunday morning when he lost control of his snowmobile on a curve and hit a cluster of trees. His father can almost imagine how it could have happened, a fluke accident on a cold morning, the sun bouncing off the snow and getting in his son's eyes.
The suddenness of Russell's death has left his family feeling proud to have loved and been loved by him, and fortunate for the time they had. His brother Jason, older by two years, flew to Hopkinton from Montana right away, with Russell's younger sister Jessica close behind. Marilyn Russell, his mother, is currently in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon receiving a stem-cell transplant for cancer of her plasma cells. But her treatment is almost at its end, and she plans to be at Russell's funeral tomorrow.
And outside the door of his family's Maple Street home, the army of people who knew him are grieving.
"In a way, there's a fine line between sadness and happiness," his father said. "And in Joshua's case there is only one sad story. And there are a million happy ones . . . so to us, Josh has simply moved."
From the time he was born, Russell demonstrated a love of fun and a willingness to try anything. His brother Jason remembered one summer he and 8-year-old Josh spent trying to build a bicycle and bike ramps. As Josh launched off the ramp, pedaling hard, the front wheel flew off and sent Josh skidding across the gravel driveway on his knees.
"Josh gets up, gets his bike, gets the tire, gets back in the garage and comes out with a wrench," Jason said. "Meanwhile, there's blood streaming from his knees, his elbows. He picks a few rocks out of his skin and says something like, 'We probably should tighten this a bit.' "
Russell was an average student in school, excelling easily at subjects he enjoyed and paying little attention to those he didn't. He was a good-natured troublemaker, his father said, making mischief much more often than he got caught. He skied passionately, leading Hopkinton High School's ski team to win the state championship his senior year. He competed in the Junior Olympics, participating in downhill, ski-jumping and cross-country events. He became an avid hiker, fisherman and biker.
After high school he spent a year at New England College in Henniker, but he decided he wasn't ready to focus on school. He and a friend saved their money and spent six months in New Zealand, then six months in Idaho. He returned and enrolled in the University of New Hampshire's Thompson School, where he graduated with a degree in horticulture.
Through jobs in landscaping he developed a love of working with granite. In 1998 he moved back to Hopkinton and started Splitrock Stoneworks, and soon found himself with plenty of clients.
Around that time, he met Wright, who had moved to New Hampshire from Utah. She was working at Banagan's Cycling Co. in Concord as a bicycle mechanic, and he was working in the ski section. At first, she said, she didn't like him.
"I thought he was cocky," she said. "He seemed arrogant. He always had that look on his face, that grin."
But the second time she met him, she asked him out for a beer. They moved in together a few months later. Most recently, they shared a home on Bound Tree Road with his dog, Tucker. And despite his fondness for teasing, they got along great.
"Josh has this uncanny ability to make you want to punch him, kiss him and hug him all at once," said Wright, 27. "He would say something that would make you want to say, 'I hate you, but I love you for saying that.' "
A large majority of Russell's time was spent giving people a hard time, his friends said, but doing it in such a way that it was hard to respond. He called his mother "Mary" for short, Jason said, and often gloated to her that he had no cavities despite going years without seeing a dentist.
"He was always screwing with people," said his father. "Just constantly messing with them."
And always, Wright said, you got the feeling that Russell was having the time of his life. He drove in the Hopkinton State Fair demolition derby each year, she said, and amidst the flying mud she always saw only his wide, white smile.
Until last week, he also skied in nighttime adult league races at Pats Peak. This Tuesday, Jason skied in his place. Though he hadn't skied all year, he did fine, he said, and smiled at the thought of how fast his brother had always made those runs. He was still thinking about it when he got on the chair lift to go back up.
That's when the chair didn't lock quite right, and when he lifted off he felt the chair shake beneath him. He tried to hold on but the seat went out, causing him to fall eight feet down into the snow. Everyone started laughing, he said, because to them it was obvious what had happened.
"Josh kicked me off the chair lift," he said, shaking his head. "I mean, it was just the perfect, perfect example . . . I mean, if he had had the power, that's exactly what he would have done."
========================
Farewell to an athlete, an artist
Family, friends mourn man killed in accident
By ALLISON STEELE
Monitor staff
CONTOOCOOK - Like his sense of humor, his relentless athleticism, the pranks he played on his many friends and the trademark smirk that sometimes made him look like he knew everything, Josh Russell's approach to building a wall could not be contained. Russell, a stone craftsman, needed a canvas as large as his own mind, and he would often spread four or five truckloads of granite stones on the ground so he could survey them all at once.
Late at night, said his girlfriend, Angela Wright, he would wake up knowing which stone he needed next.
"It was like watching him put together a jigsaw puzzle," she said. "And when he was done it would look like it had always been there. And every time you look at it, you see Josh."
Russell built his art this way, creating granite designs all over Hopkinton that have become monuments to his life in the days since he died in a snowmobile accident. Those who love him see him in the curbs around the fountain in center of town, the counters in the town clerk's office and in the low stone walls that surround many of the town's houses. He was a perfectionist, they say, and had found success in crafting antique granite because he had found something he loved.
"There wasn't one day or one second that he didn't really live, because he understands how to live," his father, Peter Russell, said yesterday. "He's so much smarter than I am that way - If he needed to go fly fishing at a pond somewhere in Maine for a week, he'd go fishing. And he'd go in the middle of the summer, which was his busiest time of year. Because he knew that was how you had to live."
Joshua David Russell, 29, was traveling through Maine with three of his friends Sunday morning when he lost control of his snowmobile on a curve and hit a cluster of trees. His father can almost imagine how it could have happened, a fluke accident on a cold morning, the sun bouncing off the snow and getting in his son's eyes.
The suddenness of Russell's death has left his family feeling proud to have loved and been loved by him, and fortunate for the time they had. His brother Jason, older by two years, flew to Hopkinton from Montana right away, with Russell's younger sister Jessica close behind. Marilyn Russell, his mother, is currently in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon receiving a stem-cell transplant for cancer of her plasma cells. But her treatment is almost at its end, and she plans to be at Russell's funeral tomorrow.
And outside the door of his family's Maple Street home, the army of people who knew him are grieving.
"In a way, there's a fine line between sadness and happiness," his father said. "And in Joshua's case there is only one sad story. And there are a million happy ones . . . so to us, Josh has simply moved."
From the time he was born, Russell demonstrated a love of fun and a willingness to try anything. His brother Jason remembered one summer he and 8-year-old Josh spent trying to build a bicycle and bike ramps. As Josh launched off the ramp, pedaling hard, the front wheel flew off and sent Josh skidding across the gravel driveway on his knees.
"Josh gets up, gets his bike, gets the tire, gets back in the garage and comes out with a wrench," Jason said. "Meanwhile, there's blood streaming from his knees, his elbows. He picks a few rocks out of his skin and says something like, 'We probably should tighten this a bit.' "
Russell was an average student in school, excelling easily at subjects he enjoyed and paying little attention to those he didn't. He was a good-natured troublemaker, his father said, making mischief much more often than he got caught. He skied passionately, leading Hopkinton High School's ski team to win the state championship his senior year. He competed in the Junior Olympics, participating in downhill, ski-jumping and cross-country events. He became an avid hiker, fisherman and biker.
After high school he spent a year at New England College in Henniker, but he decided he wasn't ready to focus on school. He and a friend saved their money and spent six months in New Zealand, then six months in Idaho. He returned and enrolled in the University of New Hampshire's Thompson School, where he graduated with a degree in horticulture.
Through jobs in landscaping he developed a love of working with granite. In 1998 he moved back to Hopkinton and started Splitrock Stoneworks, and soon found himself with plenty of clients.
Around that time, he met Wright, who had moved to New Hampshire from Utah. She was working at Banagan's Cycling Co. in Concord as a bicycle mechanic, and he was working in the ski section. At first, she said, she didn't like him.
"I thought he was cocky," she said. "He seemed arrogant. He always had that look on his face, that grin."
But the second time she met him, she asked him out for a beer. They moved in together a few months later. Most recently, they shared a home on Bound Tree Road with his dog, Tucker. And despite his fondness for teasing, they got along great.
"Josh has this uncanny ability to make you want to punch him, kiss him and hug him all at once," said Wright, 27. "He would say something that would make you want to say, 'I hate you, but I love you for saying that.' "
A large majority of Russell's time was spent giving people a hard time, his friends said, but doing it in such a way that it was hard to respond. He called his mother "Mary" for short, Jason said, and often gloated to her that he had no cavities despite going years without seeing a dentist.
"He was always screwing with people," said his father. "Just constantly messing with them."
And always, Wright said, you got the feeling that Russell was having the time of his life. He drove in the Hopkinton State Fair demolition derby each year, she said, and amidst the flying mud she always saw only his wide, white smile.
Until last week, he also skied in nighttime adult league races at Pats Peak. This Tuesday, Jason skied in his place. Though he hadn't skied all year, he did fine, he said, and smiled at the thought of how fast his brother had always made those runs. He was still thinking about it when he got on the chair lift to go back up.
That's when the chair didn't lock quite right, and when he lifted off he felt the chair shake beneath him. He tried to hold on but the seat went out, causing him to fall eight feet down into the snow. Everyone started laughing, he said, because to them it was obvious what had happened.
"Josh kicked me off the chair lift," he said, shaking his head. "I mean, it was just the perfect, perfect example . . . I mean, if he had had the power, that's exactly what he would have done."
