There is one phone call no parent wants to get. On April 23, 2024 we got the phone call that our son Brandon had decided to end his life. He came to us as a foster son, but when he turned 18, he changed his last name to Hamlow and made us his family. In every way, he was a member of our family for almost four years.
Brandon was born in 2004 in Dallas, Texas. At the age of 5 he entered the foster care system and lived with a foster family. At the age of 8 that family adopted him and two other foster children. Brandon lived with his adoptive family for several years, during which he moved to our neighborhood and became friends with our children.
When he was 15, life began to be difficult with his adoptive family, and a change was needed. In December 2020, Brandon came to live with us. We incorporated him into our family as a son and brother. He lived with us until he graduated from high school in the class of 2023 and left for university. Even while at university, he returned home each month for a home-cooked meal, hugs, and laughter with our family.
Brandon was always looking toward space as his final frontier. He was curious about orbital mechanics, space flight, and wanted to help design spacecraft to take mankind deeper into space. He was in his first year of studies at University of Colorado at Boulder and had been provisionally accepted into the Aerospace Engineering program. He hoped to work for NASA or SpaceX and dreamed of being in the first group of people to colonize Mars. His passion for space was evident when he chose his new middle name; he chose Astraeus, meaning “of the stars.”
There will always be a place in our hearts and at the dinner table that Brandon’s memory will fill. We are proud and privileged that he chose to be a branch on the Hamlow family tree. We will always miss Brandon Astraeus Hamlow and our lives are forever changed by his life.
