Peyton Carpenter

Peyton Alexander Carpenter, 17, passed away December 8, 2022.  A private family visitation is scheduled.  Please dress casual.

None of us have ever known a kid quite like Peyton. This little “s___ monkey” was so incredibly smart and quick witted. He never, ever missed a chance to argue for his point, whether it was just for fun (you got up, you lost your spot, end of story!) or to lay a verbal beatdown on a bigot. Peyton was as much a stubborn ass as he was a staunch defender of the marginalized. He was as likely to throw down over proper cologne storage as he was to dress down a fully grown adult being racist on his social media.

But Peyton wasn’t just defending his stances on principle; he knew what he was talking about. He had such a unique perspective, such depth to his thinking, and no fear of pushing the boundaries of what a person could know. Even his teachers couldn’t keep up with his questions or his energy. He was also very spiritual and had twice as much soul as everyone else. He was able to sense auras, give off and sense energies, and he had no fear of death. This kid had universes inside of him, and he channeled this visionary quality into his photography, his rap lyrics, his love for music, abstract and graffiti art, and so many other pursuits he would have no doubt excelled at.

His hunger did not stop at artistic endeavors or higher pursuits. If Peyton was there at mealtime, you better hope you didn’t want seconds because Peyton would be on his third before you even got up. Ashley said whenever they knew he was going to be over for dinner, she would make sure to cook twice as much as normal, just hoping it would be enough to buy everyone else some time. When she needed space in her fridge, she would have Kayla send him over and he would clear it out in no time!

A wild heathen creature from the get-go, Peyton loved animals, stones, and nature. Dogs and cats just swarmed to him, instantly at ease, correctly sensing he was a ‘stinky-hairy-kinsmen’ who would love them just as much as they loved him. All the dogs he lived with and kittens he rescued will surely welcome him with wags and purrs on the Other Side.

Peyton was an only child technically, but he had such an infectious energy, unpredictable sense of humor, and raw charisma that he attracted and kept a big circle of soul-siblings, aunties, etc. from day one. He taught his little cousin to play chess (and regularly bested adults without breaking a sweat), picked on Emily mercilessly, ran rings around all of us with Weylin, and went feral in the woods with his forest witch grandma Katy. He and Kayla had some epic battles in their time, but only because they are both so hard-headed. And he was such a good soul, no one stayed in his bad graces unless they really belonged there. After the battles, the love returned like nothing had ever happened.

Peyton, you once said “I’d rather be hated for who I am rather than loved for who I am not.” Well, we loved you for exactly who you were; sparkly eyes, hard-head, and all.

So, we sailed on to the sun

‘Til we found the Sea of Green

And we lived beneath the waves

In our yellow submarine.