Stories about Josie
We cherish stories and memories of Josie. We’d love to hear yours.
From:
The Karvetski Family
When we moved to the neighborhood in 2020, Josie was one of the first to welcome us. Her sweet smile is my first memory of Josie, always content to be out walking with her dad. As she grew, barreling down the sidewalk on her balance bike, in nothing but her underwear, her proud grin, and her sweet belly, parents trailing behind, she became a true light in our neighborhood. She looked up to her brother and he had an intuitive gentleness for her, she found an infinite comfort in the lap of her mom. In recent months, she would take Tate under her wing, showing him how to ride his balance bike and letting him play with her fire engine and other toys. She would hold his hand down the sidewalk, proud to protect him from any danger. Thank you, Josie. For your sweet soul, your love and your care, and your light. We will never forget you, Josie.
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From:
Shelia
Insightful beyond her years and yet perfectly 4, that was Josie. I feel blessed to have known such a creative and clever soul and to have had the opportunity to be invited into her play. I was reminded each week to never underestimate this fiercely passionate child and I will forever hold the lessons she taught me close to my heart.
I have run into so many people over the past month that also knew this family and have shared the heartbreak of this loss. Sometimes communities can feel really big. Sometimes they feel really small. And sometimes you realize how interconnected everyone is through the smile of a child. This little girl and her family taught me lessons that I will weave into everyday moving forward and we will all be the beneficiaries of having had this beautiful smile in our community.
From:
Gentry
Monica and I were talking yesterday about the special bond Josie and Kaleo shared. They both saw each other, just as they were, they could be their whole selves and be seen with each other. It’s a bond that we all wish to have. To be fully seen, just as you are, in your authentic self. We miss Josie so much.
Kaleo loves to talk about the ways he remembers “his Josie”. He told me about a really cute story about the silly things that he and Josie would say. He was laughing so hard as he told me about it and what Josie would do. It felt like she was right there laughing with us.
From:
Josie
I had the honor of meeting Ms. Jellybean through Our Neighborhood. Oddly enough, we shared all three of our main names: Josephine, Josie, and Josephine Jellybean. She was the sparkle of my day.
From:
Zoey
This is the last picture I took of Josie while babysitting her earlier in December. She and Ezra were sharing such a sweet moment while I read to them, and I wanted to capture it forever. In the live version of the photo you can hear her contagious giggle and see the biggest smile on her face. Josie has forever changed my life, and I have learned so much from her strong and passionate spirit. Everyone who got to know her is so incredibly lucky. I will forever play soccer in memory of sweet Jo, who loved to help me team up to beat Ezra in the basement or the backyard. Rest easy, sweet girl.
From:
Alex
Jellybean always had a smile on her face. She was filled with joy and curiosity about the world, and that was continuously felt by those around her. We will miss her forever and always, and continue to uphold her steadfast spirit. Rest in peace sweet girl.
From:
Huang Family
Josie was a strong yet sweet little girl. We will always remember her and her first catch at the Dell.
From:
Catarina & Conrad
Our family has a few remembered snapshots of Josie (where was the camera? I dunno!) - of birthdays, swinging so high on the Venable jungle gyms, motoring around on that bike. A dear one that I'll conjure up here was running into y'all mid-pandemic, at the pond-pool on Emmet. There we were with our flimsy, kiddy fishing net and, first, we saw Leidy and Ezra casting like pros, and then along comes Monica and Josie, maybe 2 1/2, with her real-deal fishing net, wielded with total confidence and skill. She was so ready to share, and our two kiddos sat, toes in the water, looking for turtles and sunfish, sweeping for seaweed, while we moms talked. I remember both Monica and I smirking as Josie wriggled and inched her way over to Conrad to hold hands and give him a hug. The sun was warm and the worries of the day were far away. We miss you, sweet, affectionate girl, and too many of us were not ready to see you go - you take a piece of our hearts with you. We are sending and will keep sending our love and condolence to Monica, Leidy, and Ezra.
From:
Jeanine
When I was first adjusting to rest routines (at Our Neighborhood), I tried helping Josie sleep. I was sitting by her and I guess I thought she might be distracted (I still wasn't sure about expectations), so I asked if she wanted back rubs, and she nodded. I rubbed her back until she fell asleep. She was sweet and welcoming even though I was quite new and unsure. I wish I had more moments with Josie.
From:
Gloria
I remember her vividly during the last time I saw her. I was later at dropoff than usual and in the construction zone with Ryder and Ridley. Josie and Ezra arrived and instantly the energy changed. A major wrestling game broke out. I remember Josie going up to Ryder, tapping him on the shoulder and saying go tackle my brother. She had on her cool sweatband and I remember thinking wow, I didn't know she was so fun and spunky until that moment, even though I had known of her for years. I am so sad that she is gone.
From:
Caroline
We talk about Josie pretty much every day at school-- she's first to be wished well at lunch and comes up in conversation pretty regularly. They talk about her so much that our new friends have already started wishing her well too and sharing about keeping her in their hearts. We reflected in teacher planning that it’s really cool to see her memory and her life impact people who didn’t even get to know her.
From:
Laura
Josie in her best element.
From:
Alana
Josie LOVED playing with baby dolls! She stayed focused and engaged with them for very long periods of time. She would hold them in her lap, transport them around the room and sometimes gave them something like glasses to try on.
From:
Monica, Josie's Mom
Related to teacher observations of Josie with babydolls
Josie would often say, “When I’m a parent…”, both literally and as her metaphor for being an adult. Josie loved her babies and for a while a very special stuffed pig named Peddles. At school, Josie is the only child who drew her self-portrait with her baby. Josie poured so much love into her friends, teachers and family. At many drop offs to school, I would hear Josie tell her best friends, “I love you”, and I know she did the same with her teachers. I wish Josie had a life where she could experience the deep joy of becoming a parent, and I wish I could witness the immense love she would have been capable of sharing with her own baby.
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From:
Rick & Christine
Last summer, Josie and Leo, towards the end of their week together, just got to spend a lot of time jumping in the waves. And Leo had mainly played by himself. By that point, Josie, most of the time was playing by herself. But they finally got into the rhythm of going out and jumping in the same waves and then riding the same waves in and then waiting for each other to go out in the waves again. And it was just the reason Ocean City is so special to us is because all the cousins get to do that sort of thing, and to see them do that was awesome. After this, maybe on the last night we were walking up to the boardwalk and without prompting, Josie reached over and grabbed Leo's hand and they were walking hand-in-hand up to the boardwalk and someone got a picture and it's one of my favorite pictures. That's going to make us sad from here forward.
From:
The Noe Family
Shannon: I think of Josie as brave. We were at a women's UVA basketball game and Josie was so thrilled to sit with the big kids over on the side with her big brother Ezra and Graham. Ezra was watching over her and she was eating an entire box of Sour Patch kids and we just had a giggle about how she was having so much fun. At one point we looked over and she wasn't there. And next thing we know she was coming down the steps and she had gone all through the arena by herself to come back and find us. I just remember that and feeling like she was so brave. She wanted to know about everything. She wanted to explore. And she loved her brother and being with him and his friends.
Nick: Funny is the word that I have. And it's kind of a different way. Whenever I saw Josie, I would always try to say hi to her. And I could tell she was always working on something funny, something to make you laugh, I could just tell that she was crafting something and I was waiting to see where it was going to go, and I'll never forget that.
Graham: Josie is also caring. Whenever we would wrestle at the UVA soccer games. And when everyone would get hurt. She would get everyone to stop and like to make sure they were ok.
From:
The Karvetski Family
What really impressed us about Josie was her ability to eat a lot of marshmallows. We would love to have fires at the Klotz’s house, something we did often during COVID, and if you didn’t watch Josie she could eat about half a bag of marshmallows and she was very proud of that and showing off her belly and telling us where the marshmallows went. I really remember that about her and the next s’more that I have will be in her honor. And kudos to her parents for allowing her to eat all those marshmallows.
