Obituary for Joshua Luke Graves
The wonderful life of Joshua Luke Graves
On October 9th, 1975 a warm southern wind blew across the plains on the Kansas Oklahoma line when Joshua Luke Graves entered this world in Alva, Oklahoma. This was much to the delight of his parents Russel William and Rita Kay (Carthrae) Graves. As well as his grandparents Robert and Patrica (Jones) Graves, and Stewart and Marion (Wells) Carthrae.
In a couple of days, he went to his new home on the Carthrae/Wells Ranch near Aetna, Kansas in Western Barber County. Josh grew up on the ranch loving horses and being a little cowboy. At the age of 2 Josh was excited to greet his little sister Mariah Elise who joined the family on the ranch on August 9th, 1977 Josh expressed his love to her by teasing her even as they became adults. At two or three years old he started riding a stick horse, and a bouncing spring horse. From there he started riding his first Shetland pony named Chauncey. At the age of six he could handle Chauncey very well for such a young boy.
Josh would go with his dad as he managed the ranch riding horseback, in the tractor, as well as in the combine. Many times, he was found sleeping in each of these, he even found a way to fall asleep in the front of his dad’s saddle while checking cattle.
Josh developed many loves in his life, one love was hunting arrowheads. After finding his 1st arrowhead at the age of 5 years old, he enjoyed the hobby for the rest of his life. He found many arrowheads and Indian artifacts in both Kansas and Colorado. Josh also had a passion for cooking that developed from a very early age as he would sit up in the middle of the snack bar observing his mother and grandmother cooking. After enough watching Josh would help out and sneak bites while calling it sampling.
Josh welcomed his brother Zachary William, who joined the family on December 20th, 1981. As Zach grew older Josh enjoyed being the bossy big brother who always had things for Zach to do.
Russel and Rita continued to manage the ranch near Aetna until 1983, when they moved to the Graves Farm and Ranch outside of Hardtner, Kansas. After moving they started the family business, Graves Fencing, to which Josh and his siblings worked very hard and endured many sandwiches for lunch on the fence line. They built many miles of barbed wire fences throughout Barber County, Kansas and the surrounding counties.
On October 1st, 1985, another brother Zebulon Robert Carthrae was born, he completed their
family. This was very exciting for Josh, as he and his brothers got older, they enjoyed spending time with one another especially playing video games. This mostly consisted of Josh playing and his brothers watching.
As horses were purchased at the farm, Josh developed a love for riding and learning horsemanship. He learned to catch, bridle, and saddle the horses by himself and would spend many hours enjoying that time. He enjoyed showing and inspiring his siblings to do the same.
Josh, his friends and brothers went on many camping trips where they would saddle the horses, load their food and bedrolls then ride into the Red Hills of Barber County, Kansas. They would camp for the night and enjoy cooking bacon and eggs over the fire for breakfast. If they went out for the weekend, they were always back home to attend Sunday morning and evening church services which were rarely missed.
Josh accepted the Lord as his savior at vacation bible school. This started his walk with the Lord which would continue the rest of his life, where he is walking now as we speak! He was a member of Franktown Community Baptist Church for 15 years.
On October 2, 1992, Josh got up the courage to ask out his high school sweetheart, Jill Lynn Jahay, to the homecoming dance. This was the foundation for Josh's abundant love for Jill. They spent many hours going to movies and playing cards with Josh's grandparents as date nights. This is where Josh's love for card games began.
While attending South Barber High School he became involved in FFA, woodworking, and vo-ag classes. In these programs he learned welding, livestock judging, and meat judging in which he became very proficient. While his school classes taught Josh a lot, the classes never amounted to the knowledge that his grandfathers instilled in him. Josh's Grandad taught him how to farm, manage, and fix the equipment. His grandfather Stewart taught him amazing woodworking and carpentry skills that can be seen throughout Josh and Jill’s family home. Josh graduated from South Barber in 1994.
In 1996 Josh helped as his family moved the fencing business to Castle Rock, Colorado. Through the years he and his family built many miles of fence in Douglas and Elbert County, as well as other areas of Colorado.
Not long after, on September 27th, 1997, Josh married the love of his life Jill Jahay. They were married in the Hardtner park in Kansas. They celebrated their marriage by taking a road trip to Yellowstone to view the wildlife; this became an activity they both enjoyed throughout their marriage. They later took trips to Alaska, Estes, New England, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. Josh enjoyed traveling and hunting for the best deal he could find for the trips.
Josh was very involved as they started the new division of Graves Fencing, “Twisted Timber”. This was their fire mitigation and brush clearing business that helped clients clear unwanted brush, scrub oak and other unwanted trees. They did this on acreages and ranches in Colorado and Kansas. He developed many friendships with his clients over the years that meant a lot to him.
After settling in Castle Rock, Colorado, Josh and Jill had their first child Ethan Everett on August 23rd, 2000. Josh instilled many life-long values in Ethan such as a strong work ethic and the ability to find a way to be helpful. Josh and Ethan enjoyed designing and building things with one another. Eventually Lillian Julia came along on November 6th, 2004. Josh taught her how to love others even when it is hard to see past the situation. Josh and Lilly enjoyed playing and learning new board games. When Felicity Belle came along on July 23rd, 2008, she completed the family. Josh passed many personality traits on to her and taught her how to have patience and enjoy life for what it is. Felicity and her dad loved to stay up late watching TV and researching video games. Josh is in heaven now with their miscarried baby and is enjoying a sweet reunion.
Josh passed on his many skills to his children over the years. Ethan learned to weld from Josh. Lillian and Felicity went with him to work many times and were his welding helpers. As the children grew, Josh and Jill encouraged them to be involved in 4-H projects including cooking, quilting, archery, and shooting sports. Josh and Jill spent countless hours helping their children with all their projects.The kids entered these projects in the Douglas County Fair and the Colorado State Fair and won numerous purple ribbons. He was very proud of all three of his kids and told others about them whenever the opportunity arose.
In 2012 Josh moved his family to Calvary Castle Rock after searching for a new church home. He took great pride in the fact that all three of his children accepted Christ from an early age, and took part in many church activities including Awana, Vacation Bible School, and youth group.
Josh had many hobbies throughout his life, and he was very passionate about each of them. He loved to play various different card games, but his favorite was always pitch. Josh also loved to learn new challenging board games that only he knew the rules to. Josh also loved to fish whether it was off a boat in a lake, or in waders on the river as long as he caught something he was happy. He also loved to play video games with his children no matter what game. Josh loved all of these hobbies, so long as he was the best at them.
Throughout his many years of life Josh learned many life lessons, and always knew the right thing to do leading his wife and children in the best direction. Josh always had the biggest laugh when he spent time with the people he loved most. This reflected his love of life, friends, and family. Josh loved all of his family and they were very dear to him, from his aunts and uncles to all of his nieces and nephews. He had a very close relationship with his brothers and sister, along with his parents. He loved his children with all his heart and would do anything for them. Josh deeply cherished his wife and loved her more than life itself. Josh will be missed dearly not only by his family but also by his friends and many acquaintances.
On October 9th, 1975 a warm southern wind blew across the plains on the Kansas Oklahoma line when Joshua Luke Graves entered this world in Alva, Oklahoma. This was much to the delight of his parents Russel William and Rita Kay (Carthrae) Graves. As well as his grandparents Robert and Patrica (Jones) Graves, and Stewart and Marion (Wells) Carthrae.
In a couple of days, he went to his new home on the Carthrae/Wells Ranch near Aetna, Kansas in Western Barber County. Josh grew up on the ranch loving horses and being a little cowboy. At the age of 2 Josh was excited to greet his little sister Mariah Elise who joined the family on the ranch on August 9th, 1977 Josh expressed his love to her by teasing her even as they became adults. At two or three years old he started riding a stick horse, and a bouncing spring horse. From there he started riding his first Shetland pony named Chauncey. At the age of six he could handle Chauncey very well for such a young boy.
Josh would go with his dad as he managed the ranch riding horseback, in the tractor, as well as in the combine. Many times, he was found sleeping in each of these, he even found a way to fall asleep in the front of his dad’s saddle while checking cattle.
Josh developed many loves in his life, one love was hunting arrowheads. After finding his 1st arrowhead at the age of 5 years old, he enjoyed the hobby for the rest of his life. He found many arrowheads and Indian artifacts in both Kansas and Colorado. Josh also had a passion for cooking that developed from a very early age as he would sit up in the middle of the snack bar observing his mother and grandmother cooking. After enough watching Josh would help out and sneak bites while calling it sampling.
Josh welcomed his brother Zachary William, who joined the family on December 20th, 1981. As Zach grew older Josh enjoyed being the bossy big brother who always had things for Zach to do.
Russel and Rita continued to manage the ranch near Aetna until 1983, when they moved to the Graves Farm and Ranch outside of Hardtner, Kansas. After moving they started the family business, Graves Fencing, to which Josh and his siblings worked very hard and endured many sandwiches for lunch on the fence line. They built many miles of barbed wire fences throughout Barber County, Kansas and the surrounding counties.
On October 1st, 1985, another brother Zebulon Robert Carthrae was born, he completed their
family. This was very exciting for Josh, as he and his brothers got older, they enjoyed spending time with one another especially playing video games. This mostly consisted of Josh playing and his brothers watching.
As horses were purchased at the farm, Josh developed a love for riding and learning horsemanship. He learned to catch, bridle, and saddle the horses by himself and would spend many hours enjoying that time. He enjoyed showing and inspiring his siblings to do the same.
Josh, his friends and brothers went on many camping trips where they would saddle the horses, load their food and bedrolls then ride into the Red Hills of Barber County, Kansas. They would camp for the night and enjoy cooking bacon and eggs over the fire for breakfast. If they went out for the weekend, they were always back home to attend Sunday morning and evening church services which were rarely missed.
Josh accepted the Lord as his savior at vacation bible school. This started his walk with the Lord which would continue the rest of his life, where he is walking now as we speak! He was a member of Franktown Community Baptist Church for 15 years.
On October 2, 1992, Josh got up the courage to ask out his high school sweetheart, Jill Lynn Jahay, to the homecoming dance. This was the foundation for Josh's abundant love for Jill. They spent many hours going to movies and playing cards with Josh's grandparents as date nights. This is where Josh's love for card games began.
While attending South Barber High School he became involved in FFA, woodworking, and vo-ag classes. In these programs he learned welding, livestock judging, and meat judging in which he became very proficient. While his school classes taught Josh a lot, the classes never amounted to the knowledge that his grandfathers instilled in him. Josh's Grandad taught him how to farm, manage, and fix the equipment. His grandfather Stewart taught him amazing woodworking and carpentry skills that can be seen throughout Josh and Jill’s family home. Josh graduated from South Barber in 1994.
In 1996 Josh helped as his family moved the fencing business to Castle Rock, Colorado. Through the years he and his family built many miles of fence in Douglas and Elbert County, as well as other areas of Colorado.
Not long after, on September 27th, 1997, Josh married the love of his life Jill Jahay. They were married in the Hardtner park in Kansas. They celebrated their marriage by taking a road trip to Yellowstone to view the wildlife; this became an activity they both enjoyed throughout their marriage. They later took trips to Alaska, Estes, New England, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. Josh enjoyed traveling and hunting for the best deal he could find for the trips.
Josh was very involved as they started the new division of Graves Fencing, “Twisted Timber”. This was their fire mitigation and brush clearing business that helped clients clear unwanted brush, scrub oak and other unwanted trees. They did this on acreages and ranches in Colorado and Kansas. He developed many friendships with his clients over the years that meant a lot to him.
After settling in Castle Rock, Colorado, Josh and Jill had their first child Ethan Everett on August 23rd, 2000. Josh instilled many life-long values in Ethan such as a strong work ethic and the ability to find a way to be helpful. Josh and Ethan enjoyed designing and building things with one another. Eventually Lillian Julia came along on November 6th, 2004. Josh taught her how to love others even when it is hard to see past the situation. Josh and Lilly enjoyed playing and learning new board games. When Felicity Belle came along on July 23rd, 2008, she completed the family. Josh passed many personality traits on to her and taught her how to have patience and enjoy life for what it is. Felicity and her dad loved to stay up late watching TV and researching video games. Josh is in heaven now with their miscarried baby and is enjoying a sweet reunion.
Josh passed on his many skills to his children over the years. Ethan learned to weld from Josh. Lillian and Felicity went with him to work many times and were his welding helpers. As the children grew, Josh and Jill encouraged them to be involved in 4-H projects including cooking, quilting, archery, and shooting sports. Josh and Jill spent countless hours helping their children with all their projects.The kids entered these projects in the Douglas County Fair and the Colorado State Fair and won numerous purple ribbons. He was very proud of all three of his kids and told others about them whenever the opportunity arose.
In 2012 Josh moved his family to Calvary Castle Rock after searching for a new church home. He took great pride in the fact that all three of his children accepted Christ from an early age, and took part in many church activities including Awana, Vacation Bible School, and youth group.
Josh had many hobbies throughout his life, and he was very passionate about each of them. He loved to play various different card games, but his favorite was always pitch. Josh also loved to learn new challenging board games that only he knew the rules to. Josh also loved to fish whether it was off a boat in a lake, or in waders on the river as long as he caught something he was happy. He also loved to play video games with his children no matter what game. Josh loved all of these hobbies, so long as he was the best at them.
Throughout his many years of life Josh learned many life lessons, and always knew the right thing to do leading his wife and children in the best direction. Josh always had the biggest laugh when he spent time with the people he loved most. This reflected his love of life, friends, and family. Josh loved all of his family and they were very dear to him, from his aunts and uncles to all of his nieces and nephews. He had a very close relationship with his brothers and sister, along with his parents. He loved his children with all his heart and would do anything for them. Josh deeply cherished his wife and loved her more than life itself. Josh will be missed dearly not only by his family but also by his friends and many acquaintances.