Brandon Garson

Dean Britton

 

I knew Brandon only late in his life. I watched as he transformed from a manchild to a man. And while many who knew him better than I did have already spoken about his many qualities, I think we truly remember people in the deepest way by how they made us feel about OURSELVES.  

Here's how Brandon made me feel:

 

1.  Curious about the world.  His enthusiasm was so infectious that you couldn't linger in a malaise, you had to meet him where he was, anxious for answers and a plan.

 

2.  Smart.  Brandon was smart, but unlike the insecure, Brandon had a way of bringing out your intelligence, so you felt smarter when you were with him.  He was formidable, but he brought others up, rather than condescending to them.  This maturity emerged increasingly as I knew him, as he became more secure in his own gifts.  

 

3. Challenged.  Brandon was so intense in extracting the most of life's experience, that he "threw the gauntlet down" -- he expected everyone else would "bring it" with a similar intensity, and it never occurred to me to decline.

 

4. Lighthearted.  For all his focus and intensity, life never came across as a burden with Brandon.  It was a really fun game, a Cosmic Code to crack, and he relished it.  

 

5. Inspired. I'm a Christian, Brandon was a skeptic; yet he was the one who inspired me.  Some people experience God consciously, and for others their spirtual impulse is channeled into a love of the Gift.  Brandon's ferocious love of life spoke of a great affection, a deep, unconscious

understanding of our mission and our purpose.  He didn't need to analyze or dissect it - he wanted to 

ingest it.  Would that all religious feeling were as sincere and as benevolent. 

 

Basically, Brandon made you think more of yourself, expect more from yourself, and enjoy yourself more than you did before you met him.  That was his gift, and why those of us who knew him feel such an acute sense of loss: we mourn that he didn't get longer to enjoy the life he lived so 

robustly, but even more we mourn for ourselves at the loss of so great a companion on the journey.  

 

A friend gave me a Joseph Conrad quote when my grandmother died, and it's grown on me as I've grown older, and missed the companionship of fellow travellers now gone: 

 

"A gone shipmate like any other man is gone forever and I 

never saw one of them again.  

But at times the spring-flood of memory sets with force up 

the dark River of the Nine Bends.  

Then on the waters of the forlorn stream drifts a ship - a 

shadowy ship manned by a crew of Shades. 

They pass and make a sign, in a shadowy hail.  

Haven't we, together and upon the immortal sea, wrung out 

a meaning from our sinful lives? 

Good-by brothers! You were a good crowd.  As good a crowd 

as ever fisted with wild cries the beating canvass of a 

heavy foresail; 

or tossing aloft, invisible in the night, gave back yell 

for yell to a westerly gale."

-- Joseph Conrad

​

​

​

​

​

​

Ann Brady

 

I first met Brandon a year and a half ago through his good friend and my boyfriend Jason Liebman. I had heard about Brandon before...but spending a weekend over Halloween in Miami was our first introduction. Right away Brandon soared to the top of my list of Jason's friends (it's a little joke...Jason knows I have my favorites:). The first thing that he had going for him was that he was a fellow Midwesterner (we do always rally and defend one another). But it was far more than that...He was goodhearted, passionate, fun and loyal. You can since all those qualities from the moment you meet him...karma you could say...and the more time you spent around him those qualities amplified...He just made you feel good to be around him. Anyways, so funny Halloween story. Brandon and Jason had gotten reservations for a party that was called bathrobes and babydolls..(guys wear robes..girls wear babydolls)..Yeah, really fair for the the girls right?...Well that party wasn't till Sunday and we needed to decide what to wear the the party on Saturday night. Jason suggested that he and Brandon just wear robes and shower caps to that party as well. They agreed. Saturday night rolls around and we were getting ready...Jason looked quite funny in his robe and shower cap..Brandon arrived...and to Jason's surprise was looking hip in jeans and a button down...When Jason asked where his robe was, Brandon smiled wearing these fake rotten teeth and said he didn't need a costume. As the night went on he was getting razzed about not having a costume...but then he'd smile with those fake rotten teeth and his smile said it all... But that was Brandon...never one to seek spotlight..but up close he shined over everyone else.