The following dedications were read at Josh's funeral, held at Gregson and Weight Funeral Home, Caloundra on Monday, 2nd June 1997 by various family members and friends. The intitial eulogy written by Lola Hall, Josh's mum, is on the home page.
For those of you who don't know me, I'm Dani, Josh's older sister. On behalf of Alana and Eliza, his other sisters, I would like to thank you all for joining us today on this very sad occasion.
Josh was, for want of a better word, a 'trying' brother. It seemed to us that his main aim in life was to annoy the three of us as much as possible. He was a natural tease and he possessed an innate ability to rile us. As a young boy he was so cute.... but so irritating. He never really grew out of it, and even until his death, we were constantly telling him to 'grow up'. To us he will always be that loveable larrikin who infuriated us - the tease with that lop-sided grin which we will always remember. We always knew when Joshy was around - he was either serenading us with his guitar while we were trying to talk or watch TV, or whinging about how much it cost him to park at Uni, or asking one of us to iron his jeans or scratch his back.
On the other hand Josh possessed a real seriousness about life. He was determined to make something of himself. He applied himself to do well at school, he excelled at his apprenticeship, and he was working hard toward his university degree. He was a natural sportsman and whichever sport he was playing at the time - tennis, cricket, golf - he excelled at (and he didn't mind telling you either!) The one thing that he never really got a handle on was singing - mind you, no matter what anyone said, it didn't phase him - he thought he was a 'legend'. No matter where he was or who he was with, all and sundry were priveleged to a session of 'Josh Hall unplugged'!
Alana, Eliza, Steve, David and I love Josh very much and we will miss him always. Unfortunately he will never know this new baby who will be born any day, and that breaks my heart. Joshy loved kids and was fantastic with them - he would have been a wonderful father. We will make sure that this baby knows all about its Uncle Josh and how wonderful he was.
Josh would be in his element today knowing that he is the centre of so much attention - he's probably up there with his best mate Damian, having a beer, strummin along and trying to drown us all out with a rendition of Cat Stevens - waiting for Mum or me or anyone else who might be willing, to make him a sandwich.
Finally, on behalf of our family, I would like to thank all of you for your overwhelming support over the past week. Your love, thoughts and sympathy - your phone calls, flowers, food and strength have certainly made this week the tiniest bit bearable. Please don't become strangers after today - your continued support and love will help us to make some sense out of this terrible moment in our lives.
Thank you.
(Written and read by Dani Elwood)
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Our mate Josh, Jayasureya, Josho, Chunks, Love Chunks, Joshy and Jaya - whatever you knew him as, he was a good bloke and a great mate.
From tennis to golf, surfing, running, ten pin bowling, cricket, squash and bocce at Broady's, Josh rated himself as the best.
Tuesday afternoons were reserved for tennis. Josh had a serve like the scud. Just ask Broady and Curl, they have the bruises to prove it.
I suppose the spot you were most likely to find Josh was the Golf Course. His best round ever was a magical 68 and he achieved the pinnacle of any golfer's career with a hole in one six weeks ago.
Surfing was another passion of Josh's. He and Clint spent many an hour waiting for the perfect wave.
Josh't greatest fear, in his own words, was 'to end up as fat as some of his mates', so running became more of a necessity than a passion. He'd slick back his blonde hair and say "Don't I look like Trevor Hendy?" as he set of for his daily 20km run.
Josh was our own Jaysureya. Cricket wasn't his strongest sport but he loved to play and like everything, he gave it his best shot.
When he wasn't on the sporting field, Josh loved music. Eric Clapton he was not, but that didn't stop him. Josh loved to belt out a tune on his guitar, unfortunately he didn't have the singing voice to go with it - but you couldn't tell him that.
Josh was everybody's mate and put his heart and soul into everything he did. He was always there if you needed him, whether it be to help build a pergola or for a shoulder to cry on. He brought out the best in us all. When it comes down to it, you couldn't ask for a better friend. Josh, we all love you, you'll be in our hearts forever.
(Written by Josh's mates, and read by Craig Jansz)
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Joshua was our beloved cousin, nephew and grandson, however ours is a special family and so to us he was our brother and son. Josh was a great character and will always stay in our memory and our hearts.
Josh was always there - loud and lively. You could hear him before you saw him. He was always guaranteed to give you a big hug and say "Hi Cos".
He was a fantastic mate to the younger cousins - hanging out with them, teasing, joking - they will miss him terribly.
Josh, we all love you so much!
(Written and read by Kylie Forrest, Josh's cousin)
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Speaking for myself, and I'm sure many others, Joshy was a source of great inspiration. His ability to commit to something 120% and his readiness to sacrifice having fun for hard work never ceased to amaze me. When I once questioned him about it he simply replied "I do it to better myself and to make my family proud". Well he certainly achieved that and I can't think of a more fitting tribute to his beautiful parents Lol and Gav, than the caring, loyal, honest young man Joshy was.
A life that was cut short so tragically and suddenly will live on through all of us in every wave we catch, every perfect drive we hit and every family gathering we have.
Joshy we love you and thank you for the impact you had in all our lives.
(Written and read by Matthew Babarovich, Josh's cousin)