Brandon Kamil Gidado

Brandon Kamil Gidado, age 20, of St. Johns, FL went to be with the Lord in glory on April 4, 2015. He passed in a car accident not far from his childhood home. Brandon was born on January 12, 1995 in San Ramon, CA but spent the vast majority of his life in Florida. He attended a number of local schools, and he was a fixture in the community because of his unique laugh, love for life and ability to bring happiness to others even at his own expense. Unsurprisingly, Brandon was an avid lover of music as well, appreciating different genres for their unique beauty and resonance with the human condition. He was a committed athlete, winning awards for his basketball prowess as part of several competitive traveling teams. When he went to Tallahassee Community College, he sought an eventual transfer to Florida State University where he dreamed of playing competitive basketball again as a Seminole. At his age, Brandon considered many potential career paths: he was interested in business and marketing, he might have pursued music as a producer, or perhaps his mind would have drifted towards one of the many other incredible opportunities this world has to offer. In short, Brandon was replete with potential, the sort of potential that comes when personality and genuine goodwill simply needed to be met with diligence and hard work. Those things would have come eventually, as they do for so many of us, but Brandon already possessed so many incredible qualities that came naturally. Brandon loved his friends dearly and he cared deeply about everyone he encountered. And he was willing to go the extra mile for other human beings even after his death: he insisted on being an organ donor, and his most vital tissues have since gone on to help countless people we will never meet. Brandon will not simply live on in those individuals, he will live on in each one of us every single day for the rest of our lives. We will remember his laugh, his enthusiasm for others, his shrewd and idiosyncratic sense of humor, and his fundamental goodness. Above all, we will remember his goodness, and we will try to make him proud in how we live our lives henceforth and in the love we show to one another, the same love he showed each of us for the 20 years we were blessed to be in his midst. Brandon is survived by his parents Deji and Atinuke Gidado, his brothers Travis and Dylan Gidado, his extended family which stretches throughout the United States into foreign lands near and far, and all who knew and loved him for the gentle and good-natured soul he was. When we look up into the night sky, and we see the stars stretched across the firmament in their endless beauty, Brandon will be the brightest one of all. He is now resting comfortably at the right hand of God, and he will forever remain in our hearts.