Location:
PEACE!
In Loving Memory of Joshua Lewis Nordwall
April 23, 1982 – September 26, 2006
When asked what he wanted for Christmas one year, Josh responded ‘PEACE’ (this was during the Gulf War).
As he grew, he would always leave us a note on the kitchen table saying where he was and when he'd be home and he would sign it PEACE! Josh.
Last year, his sister Emily mailed him a small metal token that read PEACE and she asked him to keep it in his pocket as PEACE was her ‘wish’ for him.
Now, in journal entries he's left behind, we see that he ends each with PEACE!, regardless of whether his day was a ‘rock or a diamond.’
He designed a logo for the band he was in that consisted of a dove holding an olive branch imposed over an Anarchy/Peace sign. For those who think that logo may sound conflicted, Joshua saw anarchy as a state in which people who saw things that were wrong were willing to work for change; not for pay, not for publicity but... because they truly believed in an issue.
One Christmas we gave him a PEACE sign in his ‘stocking’ and when his sister brought his things home from his apartment after he'd died, there it was! He still had it even though he had moved 3 times since receiving it.
So...when we saw PEACE yard signs in Minneapolis this October, it was heart warming.
Just as Josh had placed a NO WAR IN IRAQ sign in his apartment window years ago, I knew he would have loved a large PEACE sign at his home.
Sharing PEACE signs with everyone here is something that Josh would have been honored to have been a part of, just as we know he would be so honored by the many memorials given to the NDPC in his name.
Joshua cared deeply about injustice in the world and longed to make a difference. And his multitude of friends have said over and over again how much of a positive difference he had made in their lives and that they knew he would go on to help many more people in his lifetime.
As Josh's death from hypertensive heart disease was sudden and unexpected, his family truly appreciates this PEACE memorial in Josh's honor. We expect that every time we see a PEACE sign it will begin to help in filling the 6‘7" hole in the world and in our hearts that Josh left.
And...he would have been proud of NDPC for encouraging people to place PEACE signs in their yards and windows
–until – the Iraq war is over and our troops are home
–until – we all achieve personal peace
–until – forever.
Josh's obituary and photos can be viewed on-line at http://www.legacy.com/BismarckTribune by searching under "Nordwall" and clicking on the "view guestbook" option and then on the "view pictures" option.
We miss you, Josh. We do, we do.
Mom & Dad