Family, friends, and colleagues filled Grassy Creek Baptist Church in Spruce Pine recently to dedicate a bridge as well as celebrate the life of Master Trooper Brandon C. Peterson, N.C. State Highway Patrol (NCSHP).
Peterson, 31, a nine-year veteran of the NCSHP — who had been experiencing cardiac symptoms while conducting a traffic stop — suffered a heart attack soon after arriving home on April 7, 2017.
“We are here today to honor a fallen hero who has touched so many,” said Glenn M. McNeill Jr. of the U.S. Marshals Service. “He served honorably in the U.S. Army Reserve, and he served with distinction on the N.C. State Highway Patrol. He brought the same discipline, sense of service, and quiet strength to both uniforms.”
The bridge is located at the Yancey/Mitchell County line at the junction of U.S. Highway 19E and Crabtree Road. The naming of bridges after state troopers who have died is a long-standing tradition.
According to First Sgt. Chris Knox, NCSHP’s public information officer, the N.C. Department of Transportation has been dedicating bridges for 96 years, and both departments are now working together to ensure that some 70 deceased officers are recognized.
“We’re getting close to finalizing bridge dedications for all of our members that have died in the line of duty,” Knox said in a telephone interview.
Billy Clarke, N.C. Board of Transportation board member, thanked those in attendance.
“This naming roads for individuals and for highway patrolmen ... is really one of the things that means most to us,” Clarke said. “I’m just grateful that you all are doing this.”
For those who knew him, Peterson was a person who could be relied on both professionally and personally.
“Brandon would get off and go tend to the needs of others, sometimes not sleeping himself, before the next night’s shift,” said Maj. William P. Moore, II of the command staff at NCSHP. “That speaks to his character, but that also speaks to his commitment as a human being, as a person, as a member of this community, but also as a member of his family.”
Ella Peterson Autrey, who was married to Brandon for seven years, now lives in Avery County with her husband Aaron Autrey, daughters LeeAnna Peterson Autrey, 11, Ibby Autrey, 4, and is expecting a boy on Dec. 24. For her and her family the last eight years have been challenging but have provided opportunities for personal growth.
“We have learned to really walk a life of joy and sorrow,” Ella said. “We will never forget his legacy and how much we love and miss him, and what an honor it is to have been married to him. And my hope is that he would be proud of not only me, but of his daughter, LeeAnna (who was three when he died). We knew that he would not have wanted us to have died when he died, so we have tried to live in a way that would be first pleasing to the Lord, but also pleasing to him as well.”
Dedicating the bridge to Peterson also helps with their healing she said.
“It’s just an honor,” Ella said. “He would have absolutely hated it, because he did not like to be the center of attention. But for me personally ... it reminds me that he lives with us. And what a gift for my daughter, to have something tangible of her dad, and to know that not only are we not personally forgetting him, but the community isn’t forgetting him either.”