Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Family, friends mourn boy who died in golf cart accident

Vigil

Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Home News

Drew Stevens consoles his son, Sammy, while listening as friends of his son, Josh, share stories about Josh at a vigil in his honor Tuesday at Bob Miller Middle School. His wife, Barbara, is at far right and daughter, Shelbie, is in between them.

Updated Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 | 11:19 a.m.

Tuesday night vigil

Overcome with sadness, Drew Stevens embraces his youngest son, Sammy, while standing beside his wife, Barbara, and thanks students and friends attending a vigil for his son, Josh, who died after being thrown from a golf cart Friday. Twelve-year-old Josh Stevens was a seventh-grader at the school. Launch slideshow »

Seventh grader Josh Stevens had attended Bob Miller Middle School for only two weeks, but when the school held a memorial service Tuesday night after his death in a golf cart accident, the gym was filled with 300 students who came to remember him.

Josh, who had been home schooled for the past three years and had just returned to public school, had made friends through sports and in his neighborhood — and quickly in those weeks at Miller.

"The thing about Josh was that he could never stop smiling," Michael Blasco, friend and baseball teammate, said. "It was kind of like a disability for him to frown."

Josh died Friday after a golf cart driven by his father, Drew Stevens, ran into a parked trailer and boat about 10 p.m. in Anthem Country Club. Rocky Savio, Drew Stevens' business partner, said they were out that night because Josh had asked his dad to take him on a golf cart ride for fun, a common practice in Anthem Country Club.

Josh was pronounced dead at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals-Siena Campus, and the coroner's office ruled he died of blunt head and neck trauma. Drew Stevens suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Henderson Police said he was driving the golf cart on Chenal Pass when he saw a parked trailer with a boat in his path. Although he swerved, police said, the cart clipped the boat, causing the cart to tip onto two wheels. Both father and son were ejected. Police said it is not illegal to drive a golf cart on a private street in a gated community.

According to the community rules, parking a boat on the street is prohibited.

Recreational vehicle and boat parking is not permitted on any lot unless it can be parked in a standard garage, Anthem Country Club conditions, covenants and deed restrictions, or CC&Rs, say. Temporary parking on a pad or in a driveway is allowed.

While driving a golf cart is legal in the community, the community's CC&Rs stipulate that golf carts may be used for travel only during daylight hours unless additional equipment standards are met.

Savio said the cart driven by Drew Stevens was brand new and had headlights and other safety features.

Officials at Excellence Community Management, which manages Anthem Country Club, said they were ordered not to speak with the press by homeowners association President Kathleen Gillespie. Gillespie did not return calls for comment.

Josh attended John C. Vanderburg Elementary School through third grade, when his mother, Barbara, started home-schooling him and his older sister, Shelbie, 14. Josh kept an active social life through baseball, football and his youth group at Green Valley Baptist Church, his friends and family said.

By the time he started at Miller, Josh was well known.

"He was one of the few kids that was ever nice to me when I first moved to Nevada," Tyler Thomas, friend and baseball teammate, said.

Mike Cofer, Josh's baseball coach and family friend, said it was clear Josh loved his family — father, Drew; mother, Barbara; sister, Shelbie; and 5-year-old brother, Sam.

"Josh was about so much more than sports," Cofer said.

Savio agreed.

"His heart was as big as his body," Savio said.

Dozens of Josh's friends and classmates stood up during the vigil Tuesday to say a few words about their friend. When they finished, Barbara Stevens stood at the microphone to share a few of her own memories and offer words of advice to parents and children.

She told the children, when they were older, to sing a children's song — "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" — to their children and think of Josh, because that was his favorite song as a child.

To the parents, she said, Josh's favorite thing to eat was ice cream with lots of chocolate syrup.

"All of you parents should go out and buy ice cream for your children and let them eat it for breakfast Monday morning," she said.

At the vigil, many students brought posters displaying photos of Josh and words of encouragement for the family. They also had the opportunity to enter a private area and videotape their thoughts and memories for the family to view later, called "Josh's Reel World."

Josh had returned to public school, but he found the change difficult, and he often left the car when she dropped him off for school with tears in his eyes, Barbara Stevens said.

A friend of his remembered seeing Josh one morning.

He was walking backward and blowing kisses to his mother, the friend said, when he suddenly stumbled and nearly fell. Without missing a beat, he simply smiled and blew more kisses.

Barbara Stevens confirmed the story while she shared her memories, noting that he was sure to kiss her every morning before leaving for school.

"That was just how he was," she said, smiling.

Funeral services were held on Wednesday at Green Valley Baptist Church, 270 N. Valle Verde Drive. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Josh Stevens Scholarship Fund at Nevada State Bank, 1501 W. Warm Springs Road, (702) 383-0009. A memorial olive tree and plaque will be planted at the entrance of Anthem Country Club to remember Josh.

Dave Clark can be reached at 990-2677 or [email protected]. Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or [email protected].

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