David Lee Drexel Jr., age 32, passed away October 23, 2025 at St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Billings, Montana.
Born November 24, 1992 in Baltimore, Maryland, he was the son of David and Eileen (Elbin) Drexel. DJ was raised in Pasadena, MD. He was a 2011 graduate of Chesapeake High School where he lettered in cross country, track, and baseball. DJ earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Towson University in 2015. Recently DJ had relocated to Red Lodge, Montana for his love of the outdoors. He was an avid backpacker, snowboarder, and runner. He loved baseball, cooking, and music.
In addition to his parents he is survived by his brother, John; maternal grandmother, Mercy Elbin; paternal grandfather, Jack Drexel; uncles, aunts, cousins, as well as many friends.
To know DJ is to love DJ. Described by all as adventurous, empathetic, kindhearted, and always willing to put others before himself. We love you today and every day forward.
In keeping with his generous spirit, DJ made the decision to give the gift of life through organ and tissue donation.
Memorial donations can be made to: Active Minds (Activeminds.org )
Oh Deej, my best friend, where to even begin with memories when it comes to you. I could be here for years sharing. But I’ll start with these two that recently popped up as I was thinking of you. DJ has gone through quite a few “looks” since I’ve known him. Clean cut when I first met him, to longer grown out hair, slicked back look, and even a touch of Walter White from Breaking Bad. Deej, remember back in our apartment days at Towson, we would shave our own heads and then have each other do the final touch ups that we couldn’t reach ourselves? I think Evan and Zach joined in on that at times too. But that one time.. when we thought we were done but you came back out and said you missed a spot.. and well let’s just say DJ didn’t put the right trimmer on, or any trimmer at all, and went for the cut and the sound it made, without words even being said, we both knew he just shaved his head unintentionally. So DJ had a nice shaved strip right down the center of his head. If it was off to the side, we could have salvaged a Mohawk or something but instead he just went right down the middle. The laughs that followed on the balcony I’ll never forget. And that’s where another look happened, the headband / bandana DJ days. The other memory I want to share with you all is something that I think we will have to echo and remind ourselves, especially when things are really heavy. “Beautiful day”. A few months ago DJ visited and drove down to NC. It was the last time I saw him in person.. and it was such a great time together. We went to the park multiple times to throw the baseball, take some swings. We bonded over many things in life but baseball was our religion. We could throw for hours, talk about it, watch it. The last time we were there on the field, he shared a story of him when he was working a few years back, I believe he was a groundskeeper, but about his boss and how he would always just say “beautiful day, beautiful day”. So obviously DJ does the imitation and I burst out laughing. And he keeps saying it but then finally just says it his own voice. And it hit me that day, and even harder now, that this is / was one of the most beautiful days because I’m with my best friend, doing the thing we love the most, together. He left my house a few days later.. he left a baseball with me, as he called them Pearls, we hugged one last time and said I love you brother, take care of yourself, and we’ll see each other soon. And as he drove off in the Jeep, window down, he said “beautiful day, beautiful day” and those were the last words he said to me in person. And while every day for the last 5+ weeks has been incredibly dark, I try to remind myself that it’s another beautiful day to be here, to remember our friend, brother, son, etc. I love you Deej, keep sharing these beautiful days with us as much as you can, we all need them.
