Part IV

PART IV

Chapters 31–36

Brilliance, Performance, And The Cost Of Climbing

After my mother and grandmother died in 2024, preserving the materials they had kept became more urgent. I gathered photographs, digitized old recordings, and transcribed memories they had saved and shared. This memoir continues that work: an attempt to hold what they carried and pass it forward. I remain grateful for the stories they told of my younger years.

My journals become especially important in these chapters. They preserve dates and details, but also the contemporaneous voice of the teenager I was: what I noticed, what I wanted, and how I was trying to find my place.

Lacy II & Bandit

Photograph by the author

Spring 1995

Daniel Racing Bandit & Lacy II

Photograph by the author

Spring 1995

Melissa, Michelle, Emily, and Daniel gathered in the yard with the two white American Eskimo dogs, Lacy II and Bandit.

Legs caught lifted off the driveway pavement, Daniel is racing two American Eskimo dogs, Bandit and Lacy II.

Melissa, Michelle (Emily's friend), Emily, Daniel

Lacy II & Bandit

Smoke stacks in the background

Photograph by the author

Spring 1995

Two American Eskimo dogs with full, white coats of fur, seated at attention on the lawn. This is Lacy II and Bandit.

Journal entries

June 1995

Grand Uncle Bob’s metal glider swing beneath the covered patio of the grandparents’ brick home.

Grandparent's back porch

Glider swing welded by Grand Uncle Bob

Packard's front wheels beside the house

Photograph by the author

29 May 2012

Young Glenna Sorenson sitting astride her dark horse Dude beside a wooden building in Mayfield, Utah, in 1944.

Grandma Glenna Sorenson

& her horse Dude

Mayfield, Utah 1944

Wooden barrel planters filled with bright flowers along the back porch of Glenna and Glade’s home.

Grandma Glenna's planting barrels

Photograph by the author

29 May 2012

Black-and-white portrait of young Glenna Sorenson seated outdoors with mountains behind her.

Hans William Peterson w 1912 Packard_edi

Brandon's great-grandfather Hans William Peterson with his 1912 Packard

Young Glade Peterson standing outdoors between his parents, Hans William Peterson and Margaret Keddie Adamson, around 1946.

Grandpa Glade & his parents around November 1946

Hans William Peterson & Margaret Keddie Adamson

Ancestral pioneer wagon wheel flanked by the Packard's rear wheels

Photograph by the author

29 May 2012

Large ancestral pioneer wagon wheel displayed against a brick wall between smaller wheels from the family’s Packard automobil

Hans William Peterson seated in an armchair reading with his young granddaughter Elaine beside him.

Brandon's great-grandpa, Hans William Peterson

& his mom, Elaine around 1956

View from the grandparents’ patio across the driveway toward a green lawn, flower beds, hedges, and mature trees.

Glade and Glenna Peterson standing behind their wedding cake on their wedding day, September 6, 1949.

Sepia portrait of young Glade Peterson wearing a plaid shirt.

Brandon's grandparents' wedding day

Glade & Glenna

6 September 1949

Grandpa Glade Peterson

View from grandparents' porch swing

Photograph by the author

29 May 2012

Pencil sketch of Brandon’s MAEG character, a cyborg scientist in a tattered overcoat, leveling a shotgun with one hand.

Pencil cover art for Brandon’s MAEG character and Adhemar Comics imprint.

Pencil sketches for Brandon's character MAEG & his Adhemar Comics imprint

1993 & 1994

Brandon's Murray High School ID cards, 95-96

Graphite self-portrait of Brandon wearing glasses, seated with one arm across his desk against an abstract background.

Self-portrait in graphite, 1995

Pastel self-portrait of Brandon wearing glasses and a dark red shirt against a textured green and black background.

Self-portrait in pastels, 1995

Black-and-white scratchboard portrait of young Brandon seated beside his grandfather Glade Peterson.

Scratchboard portrait of Brandon & grandpa Glade Peterson

6 October 1996

Blond-haired figure raising his arms in anguish as he stands amid flames. Acrylic painting in deep reds and black.

Transformation, acrylic on canvas

15 December 1993

The Club, marker on canvas

14 January 1995

Journal Fragments

Handwritten journal entry dated August 6, 1995.

Certificate of Achievement awarded to Brandon DeWitt for the Social Science Clove Award, May 22, 1996.

Murray High School Vocational Honor Society membership certificate awarded to Brandon DeWitt in April 1996.

National Honor Society certificate naming Brandon DeWitt as a member of the Murray High School chapter in 1995.

Utah State Board of Education certificate recognizing Brandon’s outstanding Grade 11 performance in reading and science, 1994

Murray High School certificate recognizing Brandon’s 4.0 GPA for the second term of the 1995–1996 school year.

Murray High School certificate recognizing Brandon’s 4.0 GPA for the first term of the 1995–1996 school year.

Latter-day Saint seminary graduation certificate awarded to Brandon DeWitt on May 15, 1996.

Murray High School Science Strand certificate awarded to Brandon DeWitt at graduation in June 1996.

Brick Latter-day Saint meetinghouse with a central steeple, American flag, broad lawn, and mature trees.

Brandon's neighborhood ward house

Photograph by the author

11 June 2026

Empty LDS chapel with rows of wooden pews facing the pulpit, organ pipes, and choir seating beneath exposed wooden beams.

Chapel interior

Photograph by the author

17 November 2024

Brandon seated on the living-room couch wearing his father’s 1970s suit, sunglasses, wide-collared shirt, and platform shoes.

Brandon standing in his father’s patterned 1970s suit, dark sunglasses, wide-collared shirt, and flared trousers.

Before the fashion show, Brandon dressed in his father's suit and platform shoes tailor made in Thailand

Photographs by Brian DeWitt

9 February 1996

Video still of a group of young women dancing together across the church cultural-hall stage during the fashion show.

Young Women dancing for the fashion show

Video still by Brian DeWitt

9 February 1996

Tyler & Brandon's fashion show entrance

Video by Brian DeWitt

9 February 1996

Richard's fashion tribute

Video by Brian DeWitt

9 February 1996

Video still of Daniel performing with a fishing pole onstage during one of the fashion-show tribute routines.

Brian DeWitt's Sony Video 8 Handycam recorder.

Daniel's fashion tribute

Video and still by Brian DeWitt

9 February 1996

Brandon and Tyler standing at a microphone beside the fashion-show trophy near the edge of the stage.

Video still of Brandon scanning the audience during the fashion show.

Brandon & Tyler at the mic

Trophy in front of the pulpit

Video stills by Brian DeWitt

9 February 1996

Video breakdown at the end of the fashion show

Video by Brian DeWitt

9 February 1996

Sample pages from Brandon's villain's paper, 29 February 1996

Typed page from Brandon’s 1996 paper “Villainy, Debauchery, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” analyzing Dracula and Dorian Gray, with teacher markings.

Typed sentence outline for Brandon’s villains paper, organizing Dracula and Dorian Gray around degeneration, pursuit of happiness, and a glimmer of hope.

Typed preface to Brandon’s villains paper explaining his fascination with Dracula, Dorian Gray, Faust, and literary villains, with handwritten teacher comments.

Title page for Brandon’s AP senior English paper “Villainy, Debauchery, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” dated February 29, 1996, with handwritten teacher comments.

Black-and-white scratchboard portrait of Gustav Mahler seated in a suit, by Brandon from Moritz Nähr’s 1907 photograph.

Inside of the MHS Class of 1996 graduation announcement, with the class motto “The higher we climb, the better the view."

White Murray High School Class of 1996 graduation announcement cover with flowing black script and the red Spartan school emb

Scratchboard portrait of Gustav Mahler by Brandon DeWitt

Based on Moritz Nähr’s 1907 photograph of Gustav Mahler in the foyer/loggia of the Vienna Court Opera Source photograph: public domain

Murray High School Class of 1996 Graduation Announcement

Class Motto: The higher we climb, the better the view

Commencement Exercises: 5 June 1996

Part IV

Brilliance, Performance, And The Cost Of Climbing

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