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Justin Andrew Nash was born in Columbus, Ohio, on March 4, 1982.
He lived there less than two
years before we moved to Garland, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He
was twelve years old when we moved from Texas to Mt. Olive,
Alabama, near Birmingham. Even though the move from Dallas to
Mt. Olive was somewhat of a "culture shock", it was the best
move we have ever made. It allowed Justin to grow through the
teen years with the good Christians at the Gardendale church of
Christ. Their influence and example helped him to become the
fine young Christian that he was.
Although he had a little stubborn streak in him, he was a very
good child. He never caused any problems as he was growing up.
He was one of those children that was always thinking. Even
though he was never afraid to ask the questions that popped into
his mind, it was not long before we realized he was the type of
person who was going to do more thinking than he was talking.
The older he grew the more we could tell that he was going to
take after his father; logical in his thoughts, quiet, and a
little shy.
By the time he was three years old, he was starting to show a
talent for art. He had an especially good ability to draw faces
and show different emotions in their expression. By age six he
was so good at drawing the well-known cartoon characters from
the comics such as Garfield, Mickey Mouse, and Snoopy, that
people would not believe that a child his age had drawn them. He
also displayed a very good sense of humor and developed the
ability to add a funny story line to his drawings. It was about
that time in his life that he started saying that he was going
to be a cartoonist when he grew up. He never changed his mind or
spoke about any other occupation.
When he was twelve he sent his first submission of a comic strip
to a publisher, and got the first of many rejection letters.
That motivated him to teach himself the tricks of the trade. He
was soon reading everything he could find about the technical
aspect of drawing cartoons such as what inks to use and what
size panels were needed for publication. His skill started to
catch up with his talent. He was looking forward to college
where he was planning to major in art and learn the things that
would be necessary to make a living doing what he loved to do.
Another aspect of his life in which Justin showed an above
average ability was in the area of spirituality. At an early age
he showed a strong interest in religion. He was eleven years old
when he awakened us at midnight one Sunday night saying that he
needed to be baptized. He had been secretly thinking about it
for some time, but had let another opportunity pass by at church
services that day. While we were sleeping, he was lying awake
thinking about eternity. After he woke us, we and a few other
members of the small church we were attending at the time, met
at the church building. After I baptized him for the remission
of his sins, John West, who was the preacher, asked that Justin
and I both lead a prayer. I remember being very proud as Justin
thanked God for parents that loved him enough to teach him right
from wrong, and asked God to help him in his search for truth.
He never stopped his quest for religious truth. He questioned
the things we taught him, because he knew that he had to believe
for himself, not just blindly accept the things his parents told
him. He studied other religions in addition to Christianity. We
had many long discussions about spiritual things and he often
amazed me with the depth he had for one so young. He knew that
ultimate truth had to exist, and he knew that he had a
responsibility to find it. He never found all the answers, none
of us ever will in this lifetime, but he never quit searching.
We were not surprised then, when his art became a mixture of
humor and philosophy. Some of the cartoons that he would draw
had underlying moral themes. Not only has this been a great
comfort to us after his death, but it also has made it very easy
to use these cartoons in the format of a book to teach some
spiritual lessons.