Joshua Ray Bilbrey

My deepest condolences 🙏

Steve and Leanne, our hearts are so broken by the loss of Josh. Life is so unfair. You raised an awesome, kind young man that I know you were so proud of. We love you both dearly and are praying for you during horrible time. Rest in peace sweet Joshy.
The Vargas Family

A candle for my great nephew-gone too early

Dearest Steve and Leanne,

You raised our grandson to be an outstanding young man, and it was apparent every time he entered a room. His amazing character, strength and incredible personality made him such a wonderful person to be around and we are so very proud of the job you’ve done raising him. We will dearly miss him, his electronic smile and humor that made him one of kind. We love you both and we will keep you in our hearts and our prayers.

Poppie and Gigi Reininger

Steve and Leanne—You are in our prayers. We ask God to give you peace and comfort, to relieve your pain through the many wonderful memories of Josh, and to feel the love and warmth we all want to share with you. We loved getting to know him in the neighborhood . . . and we will miss him!
God bless—Roger & Patsy

We are saddened to hear of your loss. It was such a pleasure for us to watch Josh play soccer with Dylan. They had lasting memories playing soccer as a Unicorn @NBHS and will always remember Josh smiling and enjoying playing on the field. Sending our deepest condolences. ❤️ The Navarijos

Our thoughts and prayers are with your family! May God give strength and comfort!

Petrona Pruitt and family!
Erik Johannessen’ s aunt

Dear Leanne and Steve,

We are deeply saddened to hear about the loss of your beloved son, Josh. Please accept our heartfelt sympathies during this incredibly difficult time. We are praying for peace and strength for both of you.

I will always cherish the memory of bringing you the Lionel Messi gift from the game in Barcelona. It was a joy to discover that Josh shared our passion for soccer and Messi.

Josh was taken from us far too soon, but his memory will forever remain in our hearts. We take comfort in knowing we will see him again on the other side.

With deepest condolences,

Mario, Tara, and Sebastian Rodriguez

Sending prayers to you and your family. May God help you through this difficult time and shine light upon your hearts. 🙏

My heart aches for you all, our thoughts and prayers are with you. Sending our love and hugs. Josh was such a great kid, I loved his silliness! Love you all!
Love,
Scott, Kylee, Tyler, Kaden, Conner, Kolten and Camden

Sending prayers to you, Steven and Leanne and your family during this difficult time. God has beautiful angel in His Realm and he is smiling down on the both of you. God has the both of you, We are deeply sorry for your loss.

Jonathan and Miroslava LaNasa

My deepest condolences to Leanna, Steve , and family. Blessing and healing to you all during this difficult time.

Josh was such an amazing person and friend. I’m so grateful for all the time we had together and the friendship that was forged from such a young age. He always knew how to light up a room anytime he walked in and was never afraid of putting himself out there. He was all around just an awesome, funny, kind, charismatic, sociable, and friendly kid. I am so sorry to hear about your loss and send my love and prayers to your family at this time. Will forever love and miss him, fly high sweet Josh.

McKenzie McMullen

I am deeply sorry for your loss. I’m praying you’ll find peace.

Ever since I heard the news, I have been at an utter loss for words. I know the pain for family and friends must be unbearable. I hope that the outpouring of love, support, and memories of Josh have offered some comfort. I will continue to pray for Leanne and Steve as they navigate their next chapter. May God’s love surround you and sustain you in your grief.

My sincere condolences for your loss. I know it is a personal tragedy for you, and my prayer is for peace and healing for you in the months and years to come. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

9-7-24
Josh was a cool and funny guy, he was a soccer player, a blue crew member, a Unicorn in this “place to be” of the NB community, a family member of the Bilbrey’s, a true Texan, a loved one, and more importantly a good friend. And now he’s my 2nd friend I’ve lost. I told my mom about it and she heard too but I didn’t know he worked at the Las Fontanas restaurant, either Creekside or Oak Run I dunno. I wish coulda I seen him there.

I known him since 9th grade, he seemed like an interesting guy and I’m glad I was his friend. If there’s anything I remember about him was he had a bowl cut, well more like The Beatles hair style like mine. I remember me, Josh and Eric Reynolds would throw an art piece made of clay at the wall, and that time me and Josh spun our heads on baseball bats and got dizzy at the 9th grade pep rally. We weren’t classmates but we both had English for 5th period in separate classes so he was basically like a next door neighbor, and I remember I once played wall ball with Josh and his friends with a tennis ball and the rules were if the ball bounces farther, you run and touch the wall, you’re safe. But if it hits the wall before you, you’re out.

In 10th grade all these memories took place at lunch. I was happy we both had [B] Lunch where all the cool people and my good friends were, Josh sat with Eric, Tristan, Max, Bogar, Jake, Journey, and Angela, but he also sat with us guys, he used to piss off this older ROTC kid so Josh told us altogether to T-pose him to assert dominance every time we’d see him. I think we played Never Have I Ever. This one time me and Josh took turns headbutting an apple until it shattered because he asked me to do it with him and it was funny, although it didn’t shatter I probably still ate it. I think I remember giving him candy too, and I remember at [B] Lunch Mr. Falcone moved Josh and our friends separately from us because they were throwing food at each other I think.

In 11th grade Josh had short hair, and I remember him giving Jordan Whitehead a tictac box with cat litter in it I don’t know why he did that. Finally 12th grade, his hair was dyed yellow, and the last memory I have of Josh was at prom, I asked him where he got that ice cream sandwich so he gave me his ticket to go buy one outside and it tasted mid, not that great.
If there’s anything that makes me smile are the pictures of Josh going on the slip ‘n slide which was the last thing I remember. The last time I talked to him was on Instagram last year so I told him happy belated birthday and his last words was “thank you sir” with the praying hands emoji.

It’s sad to know when your friend, your family member, your coworker, classmate and teammate, and boyfriend is gone. It’s sad we won’t see Josh again, at the county fair, at Wurstfest, at our Highschool reunion, at a friends or family’s wedding as their best man, on hang outs, on birthdays, on special occasions, or by coincidence. This was truly a wake up call to where someone who means a lot to you deserves a good time of cherishing. I’m saying spend time with someone you haven’t seen in forever and keep doing it, or else it’s too late.

Josh has always been there, with his friends and family, on the first and last days of school, during lock downs, fire drills and assemblys, that time in 9th grade when our 5th period English classes had us partner up with each other at the library, and when they made us all exercise in the gym for the English EOC Test (including all English classes), he was there in soccer games, with lunch friends, on block parties, he was there that time Nevaeh got arrested, he’s been there at pep rally’s, at the 2021 prom, in our Senior class photo, and the Highschool graduation. But he’ll always be there in our hearts, our memories, our thoughts, as a like and comment on our Instagram posts, in pictures and videos, in our Highschool yearbook, and someday we’ll see him in our dreams and in Heaven waiting for us.

Goodbye, Josh. We will miss you, I will miss you…and that bowl cut you had. I’ll keep on reading this eulogy that I’ve stood all night reading, writing, and editing. And I’ll never forget those memories I have of you written down on my notes app. I know I wasn’t always there with you but I wanna say it was good knowing ya, I freakin’ love you man, and may God rest your soul, friend.