a Tough week

hard times ahead

at about 820 am Sunday 9/9, I received a call that Robert Andrew Paw Burnett had died during the night at age 31.

Andrew was one of two survivors of the wreck in 2002 that killed our son Joshua Blake Hargrove. We only came to know Andrew as a result of the wreck – we visited him in the hospital only days later to assure him he had no fault in the accident (a truck had crossed the oncoming lane to head on collide with Joshua’s van, the driver Shelly age 20 was also killed in the wreck.).

Andrew came to be a close friend, in a way a second son to Leisa and I, and when life turned bad for him (he struggled with anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues) and his mom developed cancer, then died – it was more than he was willing to handle. We saw him rise and fall with life’s challenges. He was at our home often, sometimes in the early morning hours – just talking through good and bad things. He was connected to a lot of people and loved to talk, debate, support, and just enjoy talking to people. He enjoyed sharing his Faith in Jesus, inside and outside of church and Bible Study.

Andrew appears to have died of natural causes at night, in the early morning ours of 9/9/2018.

this is a short tribute to his life

he was a Friend, loyal to a fault, willing to help, loved marvel comics, played D&D, knew a lot of his Bible due in no small part to the influence of his uncle Larry Hatch. he attended Tuesday night Bible study from 2003 to his death in 2018. He loved his family. He was creative and smart, sensitive to others, loved to laugh. He played a lot of video games, loved to draw, write stories. Music was important to him as a means of thinking and connecting. He had long time friends from kindergarten to now.

We miss you Andrew Paw Burnett.