Originally of Statesville, NC, he was the son of the late Jonathon Lee Connolly.
Josh moved to Raleigh in 1996, his freshman year at North Carolina State University (Go PACK) and continued to make his home in Raleigh with his wife Kendra and daughter Mikaela. Josh is remembered for his devotion to his wife and daughter, his larger-than-life personality, his clumsiness, his intellect, and his wit. He was a friend to all and like family to many of his closest friends.
Survivors include his wife of 13 years, Kendra Massey Connolly; daughter Mikaela; sister Nichole (Chad) Andersen; nieces Grace Massey and Sydney Andersen, nephew, Jaysen Andersen; and mother-in-law, Christine Massey.
He was preceded in death by his father, Jonathon Lee Connolly and father-in-law, Norman Massey.
A visitation for Josh will be held Monday, August 16, 2021 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 200 Southeast Maynard Road, Cary, NC 27511.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Go-Fund Me where all money will be put into Mikaela’s educational fund. https://tinyurl.com/2cs6uafz
Eulogy:
Curiosity. Many of us lose it over time.
We get focused on our neat little boxes and trying to fit things into them. Mentally and physically. This goes here. That goes there.
Sometimes we obsess over our neat little boxes. Sometimes things get mixed up and we accept that there's a little mess. Maybe we'll fix it later. Maybe not. But it’s always on our minds.
We expend immense amounts of time and energy on our little boxes. We miss out on so much and never get to new and different things because we’re worried about keeping things in some semblance of order. Some illusion of order.
Some of us do anyway. Some of us are not constrained by such concerns. Some of us maintain our curiosity and inquisitive spark our entire lives. Little boxes be damned. There are more important things than little boxes.
Josh Connolly was one such person. A person to whom little boxes were a foreign concept and not worth trifling with. Let it all spill over into a beautiful mess.
Electronics. Woodworking. Home improvement. Landscaping. Mountain biking. Food. Drink. Astrophotography. Everything in between.
And always the best. ONLY the best. Research it. Read about it. Talk to people about it. But find out how to do it first-class every time.
But never mastered. Never finished. There were other things that must be explored! An insatiable curiosity to satisfy.
It could be seen in everything Josh touched. Beautiful messes that gave glimpses into a mind that was always at work. A brilliant mind that could grasp anything and take it to levels others could not.
But Josh was unique in that he loved to share his knowledge and talk about it with others. He was kind and generous with what he learned and fascinated by what others knew. It was a rare trait that allowed him to almost instantly connect with anyone. You could see it in his eyes when he spoke and when he listened. It made you want to be around him. A quiet, fierce intellect that was humbling and inspiring. All resting comfortably in an unmistakable welcome presence wherever he was.
His intellect and passion made him endearingly clumsy and messy. Stumbling. Tripping. Knocking over drinks. Leaving inadvertent messes wherever he had been. Happily accepting whatever happened because his mind was always focused on things that were more interesting. Things the rest of us never take time to consider while we're focused on our little boxes and mundane tasks like walking or eating properly.
If Josh ever utterly failed at anything it was being unlikeable. Despite his best efforts to be playfully offensive or insulting, he could never deliver on real maliciousness. It wasn’t in his nature. But it was damn fun to watch him try. It was even more fun to try with him. Every now and then, you thought you had beat him with the perfect mix of wit and timing, but you’d soon find he could raise the bar there too. And all you could do was laugh and love him even more.
To a loving husband. To a proud father. To a protective brother. To a dear, dear friend.
You will be missed beyond words and everything is less interesting because we’ve lost your spark forever evolving passion.
Here's to your next adventure. Never stop exploring.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18