Jeremy's Biography

Straight From The Heart

Jeremy's Bulletin Board

Desmond Stories

How To Know God

Memorial Tree @ ECU

Journal Entry

 

 


Desmond Stories

Jeremy had a special uniqueness about him. Everyone loved Jeremy and always wanted to be around him because he always had some crazy idea or was doing something out of the norm.  This page was designed exclusively for people to tell,  what many of Jeremy's friends refer to as, "Desmond Stories"  and remember the good memories about Jeremy's life.
 

Friends:

"Jeremy and I grew up together, sort of!! Each year when he would visit Sarah we would all get together at Zack Bender's house. When Jeremy finally moved to Ada he never let me live down the time we all went swimming and I pulled my hair over my face and curled it back and said "Look, I'm George Washington." It always made me feel good that he remembered little things  like that. After high school and into our college days we still hung out on  occasion...I remember one time I had a few friends over and Jeremy was one of them. We were talking about the neighbors because they were all hanging out on their front porch. I told him that I didn't know them because they didn't speak English. That didn't get in Jeremy's way...he took it upon himself  to introduce me to my new neighbors by going over and speaking Spanish to them! He really held a place in my memory as a great person, I remember when I found out the terrible news and it was just devastating, I do miss him truly but I know we will meet again." -- Brittney Hanson (Hoover)



"i remember meeting jeremy at the gas station in town, where he worked, just after we had moved to van buren.  he was such a good looking, and exceptionally nice young man. i remember talking to him about my husband's hometown of chowchilla which is near fresno, where jeremy had lived.  i think it was fresno.  anyway, that's my first memory of jeremy.  he made such an impression because he was a genuinely kind, friendly person. jeremy was a wonderful young man with everything going for him.  we know that he is even more wonderful now in the glory of heaven.  until that day when those who belong to Christ will be gathered together to meet Him in the clouds, we will always remember jeremy desmond with love and appreciation."  -- marilyn cantrell


The Taco Eating Contest

 "One time during our junior year at Van Buren High School, Jeremy and I decided to have a taco eating contest at Taco Bell. Our goal was to get our names posted on the Taco Bell wall for eating so much. When the day of the contest arrived, we couldn't wait until school let out so that we could drive to the Taco Bell in Poplar Bluff.  When we got there, we both ordered a ten-pack of tacos and a small sprite.  I was surprised when Jeremy ordered his tacos with cheese.  I joked with him and said that they would give him "the business" but he said he said that a small amount of cheese wouldn't hurt.  We sat down and started to devour our tacos.  The first six or seven went down pretty easily.  After that, our pace greatly slowed down.  We then decided to take a break and refill our Sprites.  After our stomachs settled, we began to eat some more.  Although we were on the verge of vomiting, we both managed to finish the remainder of our ten-pack of tacos.  The Taco Bell staff was quite amazed at our eating ability but failed to put our names on the wall. After we were done, I joked that I had eaten more because my tacos had sour cream and Jer's didn't.  About 10 minutes later we went to K-Mart where we talked to some Three Rivers (junior college) basketball players.  Upon leaving K-Mart, Jer bought a snickers bar which he ate in the parking lot, therefore, winning the eating contest.  It was a total blast except for "the business" that we had to deal with later." -- Tom Keeney.


"In May of 1995 my husband Jack, and I were married.  We wanted to have close friends and family members to be a part of our wedding.  We were blessed to have five bridesmaids and five groomsmen.  Jeremy, being one of our closest friends, was an obvious choice.  All the guys looked so handsome standing in the front of the church!  Well, the wedding was beautiful and went off without a hitch.  At the reception, I ran into Janell and she said, 'I'm so sorry'.  I thought, what?  Well, Jeremy was rarely seen without a hat, and my wedding reception was not exception!  She said, 'I told Jeremy to take that hat off, that you weren't going to like that!'  We laughed, knowing, that it was just Jeremy being Jeremy!  It was that gray 'No Fear' hat that he wore all the time...what, he couldn't pick one that matched, even just a little?  But it was alright with us, the hat just the gave the tuxedo personality!  It is also tradition in my husband's family to throw the new husband in the river, or whatever body of water is the closest!  This group of my husband's close friends abandoned all sense of loyalty whatsoever and dragged him to the riverbank, and you guessed it, had no problem picking him up and tossing him in the Current River!  They all ended up getting wet!  I'll treasure the picture that the photographer took of all the guys after they sloshed out of the water.  And after all that, there was Jeremy, still with his hat on!"-- Erica Griffin

"Angela and I had taken the boat out and we met Jeremy at KOA.  He wanted to go up river with us...so we went WAY up.  Well, that's when he taught me how to skip rocks.  (Which I still know how to do thanks to him).  Then out of no where clouds appeared and we started feeling rain drops.  So we drove (rode) as fast as we could back to his Rodeo for shelter.  By the time we got there it was raining buckets, so we sat in there forever, until we realized that it was not going to stop.  The boat was filling up with water, and we knew we had to get it out of the river and under shelter before it sank.  So we rode back to town to get Angela's trailer so we could take it out of the water back at KOA.  Well that took us like an hour, so when we finally got back we had to shovel water out of the boat.  Then Jeremy and I had to push the boat to this little bitty dock to get it on the trailer...it took all of us to get it on there right.  We didn't really know what we were doing.  It was so crazy!  Finally like 5 hours after it had started to rain, we were headed back to town.  That night we all went to the drive-in.  It was me, Angela, Jeremy, Tom, and some other people, but I can't remember them all.  It was so much fun, but we were so tired from all the work that we went through that day!" --  Ashley Black [See Picture from that day]

Family:

"I don't recall how old that I was at the time, probably around 5 or 6 years old.  I had just lost my first tooth in the car on our way home from somewhere.  I was so excited about losing my first tooth.  Now, our driveway consisted of hundreds lightly colored rocks and  as I got out of the car I dropped my tooth onto the pile of rocks below.  I was devastated. Losing (literally too) my first tooth was a big deal to me, and here it was, lost forever.  Or so I thought.  Jeremy, (Who would have been about 8 or 9) seeing my hopeless despair (okay, endless whining and crying.)  Ran into the house and got one of his baby teeth that our mother had saved.  Jeremy then  pretended to search the ground.  To my surprise he had "found" my tooth.  I was so happy.  It was many many years later that I found out that my baby tooth was still lost in the rocks and that Jeremy had sacrificed this own tooth for my happiness.  I think that this story just goes to show what outstanding character that Jeremy had.  He was so willing to sacrifice for the happiness of others.  [thanx Jer]" -- JLD

Jeremy loved to talk and was always asking questions.  He didn't  always want to listen to the answers.  Most of the time before the  answer was even complete he would be asking another "why?"
 
When Jeremy was 4 his Uncle Darrel and I took him to his cousin Darrel's High School graduation.  Jeremy was sitting between us in the cab of the truck and as usual he was asking question after question.  He was not really interested in the answers, he mostly just loved to talk.
     Uncle Darrel decided to turn the tables on Jeremy and began to ask "why?" to everything Jeremy said.
     Jeremy tried to answer each question but "why" after "why" began to take its toll on him.  He had finally had enough.  After yet another "why" from Uncle Darrel, Jeremy, with hands on hips and as  much dignity as possible said, "Uncle Darrel, I am trying to be patient with you!"
     Jeremy, we will try and be as patient as possible here on earth  until we join you in the place Jesus has prepared for us in the  presence of our loving heavenly Father.
     We would gladly answer every "why?" you would ask if we could have you back with us.  But, the truth is that you are happier where  you are now then you have ever been and we would not take that from you.
     I will always hold you close to me in my heart.

     I love you,   Aunt Jeanene  

 

 


Last Updated August 3, 2008. Created January 24, 2000

"My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." -- Colossians 2: 1-3

All images and content found herein are property of mightbetoday.com unless otherwise noted. Images may be  used only by permission from mightbetoday.com. All rights reserved. ©2008 J. Desmond

"How To Know God' from Greg Laurie/Harvest Ministries