Our entire extended family is very close, and it has been difficult dealing with what happened to Joel. At a time when everything was going so well and the family was so close, something like this happens. It is unbelievable that someone so loving and docile could meet such a violent death. Joel, and the rest of our family, was confirmed at and are members of a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran church in Omaha. Without our faith in God something like this would have been completely devestating, but we know that Joel is much happier now with his creator than he ever could have been here on earth.

    At Joel's funeral we centered the service around his confirmation passage, John 3:16, which states that if we believe that Jesus died for our sins then we will have eternal life; we are confident that Joel believed and is benefiting from God's promise of eternal life! The service was very comforting and focused on the joy of living rather than the tragedy of death.

    The love that has been shown to our family is overwhelming and I would like to thank everyone who has gone out of their way to express their feelings for us. We appreciate all of the compassion that has been shown to the family. If you would like to send any comments or condolenscences, you can do so on the final page by clicking on the appropriate area at the bottom of the page. I welcome any comments you have and forward the messages to my mother's email account.

    If you are interested in contributing to one of the memorial funds, the two selected memorials are:

KGBI (a non-profit christian radio station)
831 Pine Street
Omaha, NE 68108

Learning Disabilities Association of Nebraska
P.O. Box 6464
Omaha,  NE 68106

Last updated January 12, 2007