Part I

PART I

Chapters 1–10

Childhood Wonder And First Concealments

These photographs and objects preserve the world at the beginning of Hillside Boy: family, home, play, and the first places where imagination took hold. Everything shown comes from my family’s collection. Where an image has been altered for clarity or privacy, I note the change; the original remains preserved in the family archive.

Small metal music-box mechanism with a red crank resting on Grandma Glenna’s burgundy photo album.

Brandon's music box on Grandma Glenna's photo book

Formal sepia portrait of Margaret Keddie Adamson seated in an ornate chair beside Hans William Peterson.

Great Grandparents

Margaret Keddie Adamson & Hans William Peterson

Black-and-white portrait of Harold DeWitt smiling in a police uniform and peaked cap.

Studio portrait of Virginia Cooper DeWitt with dark curled hair, wearing a tailored jacket.

Paternal Grandparents

Harold DeWitt & Virginia Cooper

Colorized studio portrait of Glenna Sorenson as a young woman, wearing a dark blue blouse.

Colorized studio portrait of young Glade Peterson in a suit and tie.

Maternal Grandparents

Glenna Sorenson & Glade Peterson

Father

Brian DeWitt

Mother

Elaine Peterson

Murray’s two tall former smelter smokestacks rising above trees and the surrounding neighborhood in August 2000.

Smoke stacks in Murray, Utah

Photograph by Brian DeWitt

5 August 2000

The two Murray smelter smokestacks rising beyond a quiet residential street near Hillcrest Junior High in August 2000.

Smoke stacks above Hillcrest Junior High (cars & pedestrians removed from image)

Photograph by Brian DeWitt

6 August 2000

Round orange-and-white cross-stitch reading “Home Sweet Home,” finished with lace and a red ribbon.

Elaine's cross stitch

Black-and-white photograph of the Hillside Drive family home under construction in October 1961, with framing, lumber, and a

Grandparents' home under construction, October 1961

Elaine seated in a rocking chair holding infant Brandon beside a sunlit window.

Elaine & Brandon

Photograph by Brian DeWitt

Elaine's framed cross-stitch of a narrow Victorian house with decorative woodwork and trees.

Elaine's framed 1976 cross-stitch sampler with alphabets, a red house, hearts, birds, and family-themed verses.

Four-generation family portrait with Glenna Sorenson, Nels Sorenson, Gladys Christiansen, infant Brandon, and Elaine.

Elaine's framed cross-stitch made for Brandon, showing a child riding a rocking horse above his name.

Glenna Sorenson, Nels Sorenson, Gladys Christiansen, Brandon, Elaine

Photograph by Brian DeWitt

Toddler Brandon in yellow pajamas standing at the dining-room table reaching for the flame on a red

Elaine seated behind young Brandon while holding the red-and-green Christmas stocking she made for h

Glade and Glenna with toddler Brandon in front of a decorated Christmas tree.

Toddler Brandon in yellow pajamas standing at the dining-room table reaching for the flame on a red

1/4

Photographs by Brian DeWitt

Elaine in the kitchen, carefully slicing a sheet cake with decorative white frosting.

Elaine preparing cake

Photograph by Brian DeWitt

Grandpa Glade standing in the kitchen behind young Brandon, who drinks from a cup.

Grandpa Glade & Brandon in the kitchen

Photograph by Brian DeWitt

Young Brandon swinging high in his grandparents’ green backyard, with evergreen trees behind him.

Brandon on swing in Glade & Glenna's Yard

Photographs by Glenna Sorenson Peterson

Digitized archival frame of young Brandon swinging in his grandparents’ backyard.

Digitized photo

Clarified version of the archival swing image, showing Brandon laughing as he rises on the swing.

Clarified image

Young Brandon grinning wide, wearing a western holster, standing beside Grand Uncle Bob and Grand Au

Young Brandon standing in front of Grand Uncle Bob and Grand Aunt Elsie while raising a cap gun.

Young Brandon grinning wide, wearing a western holster, standing beside Grand Uncle Bob and Grand Au

1/2

Grand Uncle

Robert Heath

Grand Aunt

Elsie Peterson

Cap guns for Brandon's third birthday from Uncle Bob and Aunt Elsie

Photographs by Brian DeWitt

Family kitchen and dining room with dark cabinets, patterned flooring, dining table, and a tall wooden grandfather clock.

Kitchen & Dining Room

Photograph by Brian DeWitt

Emily and Brandon sitting side by side on the living-room carpet, with the dining room visible behind them.

Emily & Brandon in Living Room

Photograph by Brian DeWitt

Young Brandon seated on a patterned couch while holding his sleeping newborn sister, Emily.

Brian and Elaine seated together on a patterned couch with young Brandon and his baby sister.

Brandon leaning toward his younger sister as she sits before a birthday cake with lit candles.

Young Brandon seated on a patterned couch while holding his sleeping newborn sister, Emily.

1/9

New Sister

Photograph by Brian DeWitt

Young Brandon at home holding an action figure.

Brandon with action figure

Photograph by Brian DeWitt

Vintage R2-D2 action figure with shiny dome and pristine paint.

Vintage Han Solo action figure showing significant paint wear from play.

Elaine and Brian standing with young Emily and Brandon for a timed family portrait, circa 1981.

Emily, Elaine, Brian, Brandon

Timed picture with tripod

Around 1981

Vintage R2-D2 action figure showing scraped paint and smudged sticker details.

Vintage Boba Fett action figure in cleanly painted gray-green armor.

Second vintage Boba Fett action figure in heavily worn gray and green armor.

The four DeWitt siblings lying side by side on the living-room floor with their chins propped in the

Brandon & Emily feeding their younger sister Melissa as she sits in her high chair.

The first day of school returns: the four siblings dressed and mostly ready in front of the grandfat

The four DeWitt siblings lying side by side on the living-room floor with their chins propped in the

1/6

Siblings

Photographs by Brian DeWitt

Young Brandon holding his first-place fish beside Lacy’s wooden doghouse after a Murray Park fishing contest in summer 1987.

Red plastic school pencil box decorated with a space shuttle and Brandon DeWitt’s handwritten name.

Posed by Lacy's dog house with first place catch from Murray Park fishing contest

Photograph and dog house by Brian DeWitt

Summer 1987

Parkside Elementary School with the rocky face of Mount Olympus rising behind the low brick building.

Olympus above Parkside

Photographed by the author

26 November 2013

Ornate Turn of the Century swing ride at Lagoon, with hanging chairs beneath its painted circular canopy.

Turn of the Century at Lagoon

Photograph by the author

3 August 2025

Lagoon’s Tidal Wave amusement ride beneath its large white sign and green sea-creature figure.

Tidal Wave at Lagoon

Photograph by the author

13 July 2009

Musik Express ride cars circling rapidly beneath a striped pavilion roof at Lagoon.

Musik Express at Lagoon

Photograph by the author

13 July 2009

Video still of young Brandon reclining on a couch with chicken pox, wearing a watch on each wrist.

Brandon with chicken pox and two watches

Video still from Brian DeWitt

December 1988

Handmade friendship bracelet woven in blue, purple, pink, yellow, and white, with loose braided ends.

Part I

Childhood Wonder And First Concealments

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