Joshua Monroe

Joshua James Monroe, 47, of Churubusco, lost his brave fight with cancer on September 9, 2024. Josh had many interests and hobbies. An accomplished artist, Josh also enjoyed cooking, fishing, and spending time with his family and friends.
Josh loved creating art and he was versatile in multiple media including but not limited to graphite, oil, acrylic, plaster, 3D designs, wood, and tattoos. Josh has painted numerous canvases and done multiple murals. He has done realistic and abstract expressions. Josh could see the beauty in a planned piece before it was finished and bring that beauty out into the world. He could take paper and pencil and draw the most amazing, detailed images. He could take a blank canvas and turn it into a riot of color and emotion. He created a casting of his hand and mine, his wife, our fingers entwined. He could turn a piece of driftwood and some copper wire into something greater. He made several projects with wood, some of which included a toddler-sized chair, a treasure chest toy box, a toddler-sized backhoe, a Nightmare Before Christmas inspired bed head and footboards, as well as numerous cornhole boards. Josh could design and draw an image and then tattoo it on the body, often his own but many times on friends and family, a permanent Joshua Monroe masterpiece.
Josh was not just an exemplary artist; he was also a skilled cook. Josh preferred using fresh produce. I used to think there was no difference between canned fruits and vegetables and fresh produce, but Josh opened my eyes and spoiled me and now I am forever changed as I can taste the difference and can tell that canned foods are less flavorful. Josh knew how to season foods to bring out their natural flavors and was able to put main courses together with complimentary side dishes easily. Some of Josh's cooking masterworks included seasoned grilled salmon with fresh broccoli, chicken alfredo with cracked black pepper, hardy beef stew, white chicken chili, grilled barbeque chicken with fresh green beans, and creamy potato soup. When I decided to stop eating meat, Josh would make two suppers each night, one with meat for him, and one with plant meat for me, and only grumbled about it a little before cooking two versions became a habit.
Josh loved to go fishing. He loved being outside in nature, with the feel of the sun on his skin and a gentle breeze blowing through the trees. Josh could fish for hours and be just as happy catching one fish or many. He enjoyed the time to commune with nature and reflect. There are many photos of Josh through the years posing with many big-mouth basses.
Josh cherished his family, and he would do anything for them. Josh enjoyed spending time with his family and went to dinner at his parents' house on most Sundays. At Christmas, gift buying and giving were not nearly as important to him as just hanging out with his loved ones and sharing thoughts and stories. Although growing up Josh was often annoyed with his older and younger brothers, Chris and Nic respectively, ultimately, he loved them very much. I remember one childhood story Josh told me about a school kid picking on Nic and Josh went and, shall we say, aggressively talked to this kid, problem solved.
After finishing high school at East Noble, Josh worked at Kraft Foods in Kendallville. This was where he met his first wife of sixteen years, Veronica (Smithson) Monroe. This marriage ended in irreconcilable differences but one good thing that came out of it was their daughter Deja. Josh was an energetic and loving father who doted on Deja, taking her with him everywhere he went, whether it was out for errands or hanging out with his friends, Deja went too. During Deja's childhood, they would often play sports together, tennis, baseball, and street hockey to name a few. Josh taught Deja how to fish and they enjoyed watching scary movies together and also played video games together. Deja's precursor to driving may have been playing Grand Theft Auto with her father. Whatever Josh and Deja did as she was growing up, they did it together.
I have known Josh since our respective daughters went to kindergarten together; however, we didn't start talking until around Thanksgiving of 2015 and didn't start dating until 2016. Although if you asked him, Josh would tell you we started dating at that first conversation in November of 2015. New relationships are always magical and ours was no different. I was on cloud nine for pretty much all of 2016. With new relationship excitement, feelings of fear can also creep in, and fear of getting hurt if you put your heart on the line. One of my favorite memories was a time that Josh expressed just such a fear to me and asked me, "What if it doesn't work?" and my reply was, "What if it does?" Josh and I dated for seven years before we got married in October of 2022. It was a beautiful, albeit breezy, fall day. Josh was the person I could talk to, laugh with, and share my stories with. Without him by my side, there is a hole in my heart that no cardiologist could ever fix. He loved me and I loved him.
For all of Josh's wonderful, good qualities, he was no angel and carried a few demons with him. In his younger years, trouble seemed to find him as Josh sometimes had too much fun. During this time when provoked, he never backed down from a confrontation. Sometimes Josh was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Consequently, there were a few run-ins with the law over the years. However, by the time Josh and I started dating in 2016, he had calmed down a lot and didn't get in trouble nearly as much. In fact in our nine years together, I only had to bail him out of jail once. That's pretty good for a guy who seemingly used to have his own cell in three different counties. We used to joke that he was now a reformed criminal.
However, Josh's greatest difficulties were with addiction, alcohol being his biggest demon. Josh struggled with alcohol for years and tried many times to be sober. Josh had left Kraft Foods to work at Bosh in Albion, and he worked there for 20 years. Josh probably would have retired from this company if his alcohol demon had not gotten in the way and contributed to a group of factors that led to Josh leaving the company. Josh then jumped from one job to another while he struggled with worsening alcoholism. In April of 2021, Josh entered into a thirty-day treatment program at Avenues Recovery Center in Fort Wayne. Josh was able to overcome his alcohol demon with the help he received there. One day sober at a time, turned into a week sober, which became months and then years. I am very proud to say that as of the day Josh passed, he had been sober for 1,243 days. A few months after treatment and healing at Avenues, Josh found a job with 80/20 in Columbia City. Josh really enjoyed working at 80/20 as the company makes materials to build things and for Josh it was kind of like being a kid and playing with an erector set only large scale and with adult responsibilities.
Josh was a complex and charismatic person. He loved his family and friends. He believed in God and had strong faith. He enjoyed life and went out in the world and had adventures and really lived to the fullest. I could write a book about Joshua and fill it with stories of his character, how at his best he brought the greatest joy and at his worst he was a drunken jerk, how he was happy and treated me well, and how he was a grumpy old man, how he was quick with a smile and a friendly word and how he just wanted to be a homebody and hang out with me and the cats, how he always did what he wanted and how nobody could tell him what to do, how much he will be missed by all who knew him. He was my Josh, my husband, a son, a brother, a father, a grandfather, a cousin, a friend.
Joshua is preceded in death by his older brother, Christopher Monroe and his aunt, Lucinda (Sinn) Yenser.
He is survived by his wife, Shelly (Becraft) Monroe; his daughter, Deja Monroe; his grandchildren, Bridger and Evelyn Goshorn; his parents, Dan and Connie (Sinn) Monroe; his older brother's wife, Julie (McCreary) Monroe, and their two children Conner Monroe and Isaac Monroe; his younger brother, Nic (Chelsea) Monroe, and their two children, Addison Monroe and Carter Monroe; his ex-wife, Veronica (Smithson) Monroe; his uncle, Carlton (Diane) Monroe, and their three children, Jake Monroe, Heather Monroe, and her two children Madelyne Bolen and Haley Bolen, Justin (Kelli) Monroe and their three children Declan, Liam, and Everleigh; his uncle, Fred Sinn; his aunt, Lanett (Paul) Dolan and their two children Matthew and Marcella; his aunt, Colleen (Steve) Sinn-Wilson and their son Nathan Wilson; his aunt Lucinda's husband, Jeff Yenser and their daughter Erin (Dan) Gonzales; his step-daughter, Fiona Nelson.
In lieu of flowers, donations could be made to either the Whitley County Animal Shelter or Avenues Recovery Center in Fort Wayne.