 His legacy |
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Brandon Goddard Memorial Scholarship
The Brandon Goddard Memorial Scholarship was established to honor Brandon's band family and to lovingly remember the music he brought to our hearts. Recipients are nominated by their senior band classmates and selected by a scholarship committee to receive $500 each.
Gifts to the scholarship fund may be sent to the Brazoswood Band Booster Club, P.O. Box 235, Lake Jackson, TX 77566, ATTN: Brandon Goddard Memorial Scholarship. www.bucband.org
2008 Recipients - Trevor, Nick, & Jordan
2007 Recipients - Brenna, Laura, & David
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Legacy Concert
Friday, April 20, 2007 8:00-10:30 p.m.
Three area youth praise bands presented an evening of inspirational music at the Brazos Pointe Fellowship Church in Lake Jackson. Brevity released their CD recording of "Fellowship So Deep" to benefit the Brandon Goddard Memorial Scholarship.
To order a CD, e-mail bhgoddard@comcast.net. (Suggested CD donation $10; $2 for shipping. Cash or checks payable to Buc Band Scholarship.)
Brevity band members Chris, Shayna, Trevor, Briana, & Nick
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Brandon Goddard Walking Trail Lane
The Brazoria County Youth Homes has named its new walking trail in loving memory of Brandon Goddard. Personalized bricks are available for placement along the trail. To order a brick, call (979) 233-7281. Through the support of volunteers, BCYH continues to provide a safe and secure environment for children in need.
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Obituary
Brandon Hunter Goddard
Brandon Hunter Goddard, 17, of Lake Jackson entered heaven’s gates on Saturday, August 12, 2006. Brandon was born June 14, 1989, to Bennie and Robin Goddard and his sister Ashley. He left this life with his family beside him and prayers embracing him.
Brandon was blessed with many friends and family who loved him very much. He could light up a room with his smile and fun sense of humor. He loved everyone, regardless of who they were. He was caring, compassionate and enjoyed helping others through church youth ministries. Brandon played trumpet in the Brazoswood band and jazz band, and loved playing drums with his friends.
Brandon had the joy of knowing his great-grandparents for many years before they preceded him in death. He is survived by his parents, Bennie and Robin Goddard, and sister, Ashley Goddard, of Lake Jackson; grandparents, Ben and Arlyne Goddard of Brazoria, and David and Margia Barkemeyer of Cameron, Texas; uncle and aunt, Barry and Kristi Haag, and cousins, Blake and Cole Haag of Georgetown, Texas; and many other loving relatives and very dear friends.
The family will receive friends for visitation on Tuesday, August 15, 2006, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Lakewood Funeral Chapel in Lake Jackson. Services will be held Wednesday, August 16, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. at Chapelwood United Methodist Church, 300 Willow Drive, Lake Jackson, with Wesley Welborn leading. Burial will follow at Restwood Cemetery in Lake Jackson.
Active pallbearers will be Barry Haag, Blake Haag, Cole Haag, Trevor Williams, Jordan Wright, Nick Lipscomb, Brendan Lay, Blake Albert and Daniel Fritz. Honorary pallbearers will be the Brazoswood Buccaneer Band and Chapelwood Senior High Youth.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Brandon’s name to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, www.jdrf.org or (800) 533-2983, or the Luther B. Travis Diabetes Research Fund, UTMB, Galveston, TX 77555.
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31.
Published August 15, 2006
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The Facts (article published August 15, 2006)
Teen was lover of fun, music
By Bridget Brown
For three days, friends of Brandon Goddard have met to comfort each other and share stories of the young man they said was a servant at heart and always the first to try something new.
The 17-year-old, who had just begun his junior year at Brazoswood High School, died Saturday from an unknown virus.
“We are trying to make sense of it, and it doesn’t make sense,” said Brandon’s father, Bennie Goddard. “It doesn’t seem real.”
Brandon became sick Thursday night after school and was taken to the Brazosport Regional Health System emergency room Friday when his condition worsened, said the boy’s grandfather, David Barkemeyer. He then was taken by helicopter to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where died Saturday.
Brandon also is survived by his mother, Robin Goddard, and his older sister, Ashley.
Bennie Goddard said Brandon had been a Type I diabetic for 13 years, but that was not the cause of his death.
“It was a bacteria or a virus that entered his body, and they don’t have any idea how,” Barkemeyer said.
Brandon’s death might remain a mystery because there will not be an autopsy, Barkemeyer said.
“You just don’t expect anything like this,” Bennie Goddard said. “To have him do so well with the diabetes for 13 years, and to have something else come along and take him so quickly, it’s just unimaginable, and it’s really hard.”
A faint buzz of a pager vibrating on the Goddards’ kitchen table relays a message to the grieving family that their son is missed. A prayer buzzer alerts the family each time a phone number is called to send a numerical message of sympathy.
The buzzing hadn’t stopped Monday, Barkemeyer said.
“There are signals of concern coming in from every direction,” Barkemeyer said. “There has been a steady stream of friends coming to the home to express their love. Literally hundreds of people have come by here.”
Though he knew his grandson had a charismatic personality, Barkemeyer said, he is amazed at the influence Brandon had on his community.
“He was an impromptu kid,” Barkemeyer said. “He was so talented. He could sit down at the piano and play a tune without any lessons.”
Music might have floated on the air the day Brandon was born. The boy was instilled with an unusual musical ability to play by ear and always with his heart, friends said. On Sunday, friends and family convened at Chapelwood United Methodist Church in Lake Jackson for a night of music and memorial.
The band, made up of his four best friends, played on in Brandon’s spirit.
“We played the happy song,” drummer Shayna Smades said. The happy song fits Brandon’s upbeat personality, she said.
During the last song of the performance, Smades looked over at keyboard player and singer Briana Dunn, guitarist and singer Nick Lipscomb and guitarist Trevor Williams and realized things were going to be different.
“He had a real close-knit group of friends,” Bennie Goddard said.
All four of the teenagers grew up alongside and played in the school band with Brandon.
“The last song was about praising God,” Smades said. “When the drum comes in, it gets you. Sunday night everyone had candles. It was very emotional.”
The four friends finished each other’s sentences as they remembered their friend’s last days.
“This has made us realize that life is fragile,” Lipscomb said.
They all visited Brandon in the hospital with their families on the day he died.
“On the way home, it was all silence and staring out the window,” Williams said.
Williams will march onto the Brazoswood High School football field this season in his best friend’s position. He will honor his friend by filling his spot, but not his shoes, he said.
“Instead of someone just replacing him, they wanted the closest friend to do it,” Williams said. “The past two times they’ve said something about it to me I’ve cried. I’m sure he will appreciate it.”
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MEMORIAL DONATIONS
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Brandon’s name to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, www.jdrf.org or (800) 533-2983, or the Luther B. Travis Diabetes Research Fund, UTMB, Galveston, TX 77555.
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