Joel Edward Bradley departed this life on Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Dimmitt, Texas, at the age of forty-eight years. Celebration of Life Service will be held on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, at 10:00AM at the First Baptist Church of Dimmitt with Dr. Jonathan Sullivan and Pastor Guy Walker officiating. Burial will follow in Westlawn Memorial Park Cemetery under the care of Colonial Funeral Home of Dimmitt. The family will receive friends on Monday evening from 5:00PM – 7:00PM at the funeral Home.
Joel Edward Bradley was born on June 11, 1974. He was accompanied by his twin brother, Justin Vance. Joel was "in line" to be born first, but when it was time, Justin decided he would come first. The longstanding family story line has been that Justin pushed Joel out of the way so he could be first. But knowing the kind of brother Justin is, I think he decided he would come first just to make sure that everything was ok for Joel. That's the kind of thing a brother would do. That single act was the first of many that made Justin the "big" brother in their relationship. They were preceded in life by brothers Greg and Jack and sister, Sharon.
When Justin and Joel were just 6 months old, they both got sick. What seemed like an ordinary bug, turned into so much more for Joel and ultimately led to him having spinal meningitis and being left with significant brain damage. Joel was never expected to live beyond a certain age, and we were told as much by many medical professionals many times in his 48 years of life. But Joel, and ultimately our God, had other plans.
A favorite memory is walking through the grocery store with Joel in stroller and running into one of Jack's friends. We were in elementary school at the time. The friend looked at Joel and then asked Jack, "what's wrong with him?" Jack stood in front of the stroller and looked at Joel for a second then turned back to his friend and said, "Nothing." What a beautiful thing to learn – growing up to respect and see beauty in the differences in others.
Growing up in church, I heard my whole life that God will not give you more than you can handle. I can tell you with all certainty, that is not the case. I believe that is a misinterpretation of a scripture related to temptation, not suffering.
God does allow us to go through things in our life that are hard, things that are difficult, things that are unexplainable. Joel's illness was one of those things. But I believe that in those difficult things – in the things that are more than we can handle, we are given an opportunity to be humbled, an opportunity to be vulnerable. We are given an opportunity to lean on our community and lean into our faith. Because it is in those difficult times we learn that we cannot and were not intended to go through life alone.
Joel was given to us – to be our son, our brother, our friend. And without ever saying a single word that any of us would understand, he taught us many things about unconditional love, about patience, about respect and about gratitude. Let us carry those gifts forward.
Joel is survived by his father, Lee Bradley and wife Cindy of Dimmitt, mother, Louise Carson and husband Richard Armstrong of Lubbock, twin brother, Justin Bradley and wife Kassi of Sunnyside, brother, Jack Bradley and wife Heather of Ocala, FL, and sister, Sharon Thomason and husband Myles of Lubbock, and grandmother, Lillian Carson of Lubbock.
He is preceded in death by his remaining grandparents.

The family has requested that memorials be made to BSA Hospice of the Southwest, 5211 SW 9th Ave. Suite 100, Amarillo, Texas 79106, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, 2222 Welborn St., Dallas, Texas 75219 or to favorite charity.