Joshua David Burdick

at American Legion Post 370, 7500 W. 75th St., Overland Park, KS 66204. Josh's final place of rest will be at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens.

Joshua David Burdick made his first appearance at 5:46 am on a cold December 3rd in 1972. He came home to a house on Hardy Street a day after closing, so chaos was a member of the family from the start. When enrolling for kindergarten, he made it clear that he was JOSH, not Joshua, and insisted on that ever since. Several pets shared Josh’s early years including Fluff-Puff the rescued rabbit, Berkeley, the California Irish Setter & a gerbil whose name is lost to history. And Spot the striped cat was devoted to him for nearly 20 years. He put his heart & body into 3&2 baseball from the age of 5 until 16, playing infield positions & cheering on his teammates in the late innings no matter the score. The Burdick love of competition showed up early.

When Josh was 11, Dad Lanny & Stepmom (2nd Mom) Debbie granted his fondest wish: he got to be a big brother to Robin and, a year later, to sister Gina. Several years later, he took great joy & boasted of being uncle to their children.

Josh graduated from Shawnee Mission North in 1991, along with Susan Wells. Some semesters at JoCo Community College were interspersed with employment at Hy-Vee, a canning company & Ford Motor Co. Josh returned to college and graduated from UMKC in May 2011 with a B.S. in electrical engineering.

In 2013 Susan & Josh reconnected & magic happened. Josh opened his heart to Susan’s teenaged daughter Taylor. They describe him as kind, generous, supportive, passionate, always wanting the best for everyone. Their favorite vacations were in Gatlinburg, where Josh protected the homestead by scaring off a bear. Per Susan, “Josh was a very hard worker; he had to be, I was his boss!”

On November 14, 2022, Josh’s Mom, Francie Hall, & the love of his life, Susan Wells Long, were holding him close as his sweet spirit left his body at KU Med Center after an all-too-brief fight with an aggressive form of metastatic prostate cancer. The Hall family, the Burdick clan & the Wells tribe, along with a wide circle of friends & his beloved Chihuahua Rex, will miss him as long as we draw breath. Rest in peace, dear Josh.

Donations in honor of Josh may be made to: https://www.chiefs.com/community/chiefsvscancer