I’m starting a blog about Joshua Westhaver because our dear friend passed away on December 11th 2008 and I wanted to create a place where people could go and share memories about him. He was much loved by many different groups of people and I think collecting all the stories and feelings about Josh in one place on the net would a wonderful tribute to a great guy.
I want this blog to be a living document in that many people add to it as time goes by. Everything from a quick thought to a long rambling story is welcome here. Also, pictures, video and even artwork would be great to. I really want to help Josh’s memory live on and learn even more about him from his friends and family.
I will be asking folks to join this blog in the coming days. If I don’t know you and you’d like join please leave your email in the comments section (which I’ll delete) and I’ll invite to join the blog. (Note you have to create a blogger account). If you don’t want to join but do want to leave a story about Josh you can post your thoughts in the comments section and I’ll repost them in the blog proper.
Let’s share our memories of Josh together for all.
I’ll be making this blog more presentable in the future as time comes available.
-Swinebread
Man, I will miss his big, ever-present laugh. And the way Josh thought every dorky thing the rest of us ever said was brilliant, and funny, and entertaining. This is such a sad day, and such a shock....
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved to NYC he was one I knew I'd miss from PDX. We spoke on the phone a few times after I left. Once, when I couldn't find his number, I called Hollywood Lights and he answered the phone. He said it was funny because he wasn't working there very much at the time. My good fortune...we had a great conversation.
ReplyDeleteI have a story to pass on...long and rambling...but I'll try to keep it short. When he and I were in Comedy of Errors I had a running gag with him. We'd wait for our entrance and I would try to get him to ask me a question before we'd enter. If he did I'd reply with my line "There's not a man I meet but doth salute as I were their well acquainted friend..." Let me tell you I had to become quite creative to get him to do it after he caught on...BUT...whereas some would get annoyed with this game of mine...when Josh was tricked into asking the question, he would go "Doh!" and the follow up with his infectious laughter. He never took offense to anything it seemed...or he was really good at hiding it.
He was the best Dromio an Antipholus could have, not to mention his hilarious performance in the role he created Francesco Tortellini partnered to my Captain Jack. I will miss my partner in crime.
Well.... the memories I have to share seem too vast and overwhelmin, as I'm sure it is with most of you. Goofy exhuberance, a heartbreaking, tender passion for all things great and small, an intellect and a taste for the absurd that was completely unmatched. Oh god his LAUGH. The emotions I have are just overwhelming. I was married to him, and I remember a similar episode where he had such a bad attack and ended up in the ICU. It was a terrible few days. We had four cats, and Josh was allergic. The dr. gave me a lot of finger shaking about that. And when he opened his eyes, I swear to you the very first thing he said was, "we are NOT getting rid of the kitties." And I loved him for that so much. A bigger heart than most of us will ever see again in this lifetime.
ReplyDeleteBeing the ex-wife I'm maybe persona non-grata, and you can delete my post. But I've been so very sad since I heard, and I want so much to hear what everyone has to say.
I love you Josh.
Allison, you knew Josh well enough to know that there was no such thing as persona non-grata with him. :) Your thoughts and love are more than welcomed... and appreciated!
ReplyDelete...and you are correct about his heart. I will never encounter another person as warm and kind as my brother. I am a better man for having him as in my life, and I am especially sad that my two sons will only know their uncle through the pictures and stories we tell.
We miss you Uncle Josh!
I have been gone from Portland for 10 years so my Josh memories are from a few lifetimes ago. They include a young guy who joined Tygres Heart and found his way into so many of our lives and hearts. A fun-loving guy with an incredible intellect, love for the theater and joy for the small things in life.
ReplyDeleteI was there with Josh and Allison on that night, oh so long ago, when that other asthma attack nearly took him from us. Allison and I sat there for what seemed like forever. And yes, though the doctor told us that they absolutely had to get rid of all those cats, Josh's first words really were that they were keeping them all! And keep them, they did.
It's that guy I want to remember. I still see him sitting on the steps outside the house, reading a book. Simple clear moments.
I posted somewhere else that though I cannot be in Portland on Monday, I hope that all of you who will be there, will celebrate his life because I know that is what he would want you to do.
Josh, wherever you are now, enjoy that journey. I know you will. And know that you are already missed even by those who you have not seen in a while! You remain a part of us all.
Sue Berch
I worked with Josh on "True History of Coca-Cola in Mexico" at the Miracle Theatre, and we had a blast. And because we did that one show together I was his friend for life, even when we didn't see each other for long stretches of time. I am so glad I got a chance to give him a hug and see that beaming smile (he was always happy to see his friends) as recently as last month.
ReplyDeleteI will forever see Josh and Rafael dancing in the opening moments of the show. And forever it will make me smile.
Godspeed Josh
cawohlmut@comcast.net
1993, Josh and I were getting the.... supporting roles at the Tygre's Heart. We spent a lot of time hanging out backstage.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great honor when he and Allison gifted me some of their time as the inamorata in my odd-ball attempt at a Commedia summer show, La Latte Lazzi. We spent many hours on the patio of our Belmont apartment improvising, adjusting to the style and having a great time. Jennifer and I were married shortly after that, so was Josh and Allison and our musician, Grant and Jennifer's sister. I always thought that was a lucky show.
The best thing, though, was spending the little time I had with Josh. He was a passionate, generous, thoughtful, focused friend and actor. For years after i would go to Hollywood lights to get some equipment i could have gotten elsewhere for cheaper. But those other places didn't have Josh.
Why the hell do we spend so much time out of the company that we truly hold dear? I love you, Josh. My heart is bruised today.
PS, you should have been Hamlet.
Tom Beckett
tombeckett@earthlink.net
I went to school with Josh at UP and directed him in one of my plays, Estranging Ocarina. He played the lead role and I loved working with him. He was so willing to follow me down obscure, seeming unrelated paths. He took everything I asked of him and ran with it full speed ahead, even if it meant he might fall on his face. I appreciated his trust in me and respected his intuition and thoughtfulness.
ReplyDeleteJosh was in the habit, in those years, of staying up quite late into the morning hours, and consequently he tended to sleep well past noon most days.
During our run, we had one matinee, 2pm. I arrived at the theatre at about 1:00 to be told by the stage manager that Josh was nowhere to be found. The show required that he be in position before the doors were opened for the audience, so he needed to be on stage by 1:30.
I called his house, but there was no answer. No one knew where he was. So I drove over to his house on Denver Ave., walked in and found him sound asleep in his bed. His cat stirred at my entrance, but Josh did not. "Josh! We have a show in twenty minutes!"
He lifted his head, saw me and then realized why I was standing over him. Josh never seemed to hurry. He was never in a rush and looking back at this, I recall that he seemed very casual about the fact that he was due on stage in mere minutes.
I threw him in my car and raced him back to the theatre where he walked in calmly, grabbed his props and found his mark. The show went on as if nothing had happened.
I liked Josh a lot and even though I live in Portland, we lost contact over the years. From time to time I would think about him and one of the things I will never forget about him, one of the things I can still hear, is his great big laugh. A laugh filled with the love of life.
We will miss you, Josh.
Ever,
Eric Kilgore
I knew Josh from grade school. He was always unique, and completely comfortable as himself. I remember one phase when he carried a briefcase of Star Wars action figures, and another where he was always wearing a Greek Fisherman's cap that we made great use of for a skit, where he was looking for a hat in the hat and shoe store "It's Raining Hats and Clogs". I don't remember what the point of the skit was. He was always up for imagination games, which is why he was one of the original crew members for Graveyard Airlines. And, he was on the film crew for "The Garden Tragedy" in sixth grade. We had good times. We went to different junior highs, and didn't see each other much in high school, but I did get to see him in The Comedy of Errors, and I am grateful for that. You really never know how many chances you have.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a story as such; I suspect though that I'm not the only stagehand that's going to be popping in here and noting how much we miss Josh.
ReplyDeleteI just read all of these. I can't remember when I met Josh. It's seems like He has always been here. I remember the Tygres Heart Shows, The Really Big Dance Company Shows, The Tears of Joy shows. I worked with Josh in many different ways. He was always fabulous at whatever he was doing. I am grateful I just worked with Him recently. He was a great friend! I share everyone's great sadness of this loss.
ReplyDeleteTo Josh: Roses are Red,Violets are Blue, I am glad I walked this earth with you!
MEMORIES OF JOSH WESTHAVER
ReplyDeleteBy Jan Powell (Founding artistic director of Tygres Heart)
I am deeply sad that I cannot be there today with everyone, to celebrate the wonderful warmth, spirit, and joy that Josh brought to all our lives. I have business here in Nevada and can’t get away. But my heart is there with you.
Josh was with us for so many Tygres Heart shows; he was one of those people who became a part of the very fabric of the company. He played:
• Head butler and Sexton in Much Ado About Nothing
• In Henry the Fifth, he played Humphrey of Gloucester, Captain Jamy, Alexander Court, a French soldier, and a tour guide (didn’t know Shakespeare wrote a tour guide into Henry V, now did you?)
• Charles of France opposite Allison's Joan la Pucelle in Henry the Sixth,
• Hastings, Murderer 2, and Richmond in Richard the Third
• Ferdinand in The Tempest, opposite Eleanor O’Brien’s Miranda—a truly lovely and moving performance
And my two of his most unforgettable performances with us:
• Horatio to Leif Norby’s Hamlet, and
• Dromio of Syracuse with Michael Menger’s Antipholus in The Comedy of Errors.
As everyone who knew Josh remembers, whenever Josh was in the room, it lit up with his smile, his warmth, his unmatchable hugs, and his great goofy laugh. He was always a friend, even when we hadn’t seen each other for years, he’d give me that huge grin and throw his arms around me—such a special, wonderful guy. I’ll share just a couple of my favorite memories of working with Josh at Tygres Heart—
When Josh and Michael played Dromio and Antipholus of Syracuse, the two of them were so open to one another, so sensitive, so physically adept, so talented, and they both “got” each other’s smart, silly sense of humor—that I could ask anything of them, and they would willingly take it to the logical, ridiculous, extreme. Looking at the photos of that show bring back such joy—Josh samba-ing on the balcony; shuddering in horror at the memory of the fat, greasy cook who loved him; squeezing his eyes tight shut and squeaking out: Oh! We! Are! In! The! FAIRYLAND!!; and of course…the fins, masks, and sharks!!
I’ll never forget our tech rehearsal for Hamlet. We had some technical snafu that had to be fixed, and while they were waiting Josh and Leif started to improvise some goofy stuff that grew and grew, and then they began making up “The Adventures of…ta-daahhhh… HAMLETMAN and his little buddy, Gilbert”. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my whole life as I did that day, watching Leif and Josh come up with all this hilarious improv…
And yet, there has never been a Horatio with more heart or a more compassionate presence than the one that Josh created. He was a rare and extraordinary talent, and a wonderful human being, and the world is a colder, sadder place without him. We will miss him forever, but we are warmed by his legacy of lightness and love.
“Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
Horatio
I was so saddened by the news of his passing. I have been out of touch with all of you for so long, and it makes me very sad to know that I won't ever see him again.
ReplyDeleteJosh and I were not extremely close in college, but he always made time for me if I needed someone to talk to. I always felt that listening to me, interacting with me, was the only thing he wanted to do at that very minute.
This loss is terrible for all of us who knew him, and a loss to those whose lives he touched, no matter how slight.
His light, and charisma is an example that more people should follow and share with the world. His light has gone out, but will continue shining in the hearts of all of us who he touched during his short life.
I wish I could have come up to Portland, to help celebrate his life. My thoughts are with all of you. He will continue on, as long as each of us keeps our memories of him in our hearts.
Swinebread, thank you for opening a place for all of us who knew Josh to speak openly and lovingly, with all of his friends and family.
Kerrina
I was really glad to be able to attend the memorial last night, so thanks to all who put that on or shared.
ReplyDeleteThere was one final little grace note for me. Several years ago I read a movie review that I was interested in, but I promptly forgot the name, and could never find it again. I asked on message boards and tried keyword searches and I eventually started to doubt that it was really a movie because it was so impossible to find any trace.
Well, after Louanne's comments I looked up "Say Uncle" on IMDB, and there was Josh as Crunchy Man, and then I scrolled down and saw Louanne and clicked on her credits, and up comes "Guns on the Clackamas: A Documentary". Thirteen years without a hit and there it was. I don't know how easy it will be to find a copy, but at least I know what I'm looking for. I'm going to consider this a parting gift from Josh.
Josh’s mom and I would like to thank all of you that honored Josh. The night was so special that we still can’t appreciate its full significance. It is impossible to put into words what it means to lose Josh, but you gave us a tremendous memory of him that will remain with us for as long as we live. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteBrian told me tonight; I've been far away.
ReplyDeleteGoodbye, Josh. You will always be loved here.
sb -
ReplyDeleteMy address is teasethedog@gmail.com. Send me an invitation; I have stories.
-Rick