Brandon Edward Wingle
On June 3, 2020, our beautiful 33 year old son, Brandon, lost his battle with opioid addition. Brandon battled his addiction for many years.
Brandon was born in Ventura, CA on March 25, 1987 and was welcomed into a loving extended family of relatives and friends. He was born with a twinkle in his eye and an infectious belly laugh and became best friends with big sister Emily, (almost 2) and looked up to big brother Brent who was almost 5. As he got older, if there was a baby in the room, he was holding or playing with them and when his baby sister, Aubrey came along, she was the light of his life.
Brandon played a year of Pop Warner football and then played 4 years of football at Centennial High School, graduating in 2006. Brandon enlisted in the Navy during his senior year and left for boot camp in Chicago September of 2006. After graduating boot camp in December, he returned to California and was stationed at Camp Pendleton where he began his Medic training. His goal after military service was to become a Physician’s Assistant, so Hospital Corpsman was a good place to start.
Brandon was deployed to Fallujah, Iraq in February 2008 and returned in October 2008. He received counseling for PTSD and participated in VA PTSD studies while living in La Mesa, CA and also attended classes at Mesa JC for 4 semesters while working 2 jobs. He returned to Bakersfield in 2013 and continued his battle with depression and PTSD, self-medicating to stop the pain. He married his wife, Shayla Marie Keys, on June 12, 2016 whom he described as ‘the most beautiful woman, inside and out-her soul is beautiful, mom.’ Their time together was not long as Shayla passed away in February 2018 to the devastation of all who loved her. Brandon never recovered from losing her.
Brandon is survived by his parents, Blake and Lisa Wingle; brother, Brent (and Heather) and their four children; sisters Emily; Aubrey; and Mary (and Jeremy) McGill and their two girls along with paternal Grandfather Leo (and Betsy) Wingle and many Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. Brandon was preceded in death by his wife Shayla, paternal Grandmother, Carol Wingle, maternal Grandfather, Edward Moffat and maternal Grandmother, Dorothy Moffat.
The day Brandon died a part of us died along with him. The pain of his death is heartbreaking and feels unending. We will treasure our Brandon memories knowing there won’t be any more.