Our family is devastated to announce the passing of our son and husband, Graham Gilbert Midyette, age 40, born September 23, 1985. He passed away from natural causes Saturday morning, June 27, 2026.
Graham was a loving husband, son, brother, and doggy daddy. He was also deeply and unwaveringly loved. He was an animal whisperer; he had a green thumb and could grow anything; he was also fiercely loyal and loved his family and friends with everything he had; he also loved to go out dancing and have a good time, and always made new friends, no matter where he went.
Without him, a beautiful light has been extinguished from this world. The loss of his charming, outspoken, kind, and comforting presence is already deeply felt by those who were lucky enough to have been loved by him. We may not know what we’ll do or how to move forward without him now, but we will go on, though he will forever remain in our hearts.
Graham was a lifelong member of First United Methodist Church. He attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and Sup de Co in La Rochelle, France, for International Studies. He was fluent in both French and Spanish.
Graham is survived by his husband, Bobby Midyette, his parents, John Clifton and Jean Gilbert Midyette, his brothers, John Daniel and Ballard Coldwell Midyette, as well as his puppies, Toby and Riley Midyette.
A memorial service will be held on Thursday, July 9, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at First United Methodist Church.
6 Comments
Sending our love and prayers for the family. I always enjoyed seeing Graham at church. He was always friendly and seemed glad to see us. He exuded a kindness so rare. May his gentle soul rest in peace with our Lord.
He was always happy to see anyone he met. It was a rare gift, which at times annoyed me, especially when we had places to be, but I did love him for it. He made time for everyone he knew or just met. He was just that kind of person. He wanted to help you. The polar opposite of me in that respect. I grew up in NY. We don’t do that with anyone. If it’s going to take more than 60 seconds, I’m just gonna tell you sorry as to head on your way. lol But I seriously did love the way he always wanted to help people. He just had an amazing heart. A heart of gold for real. And I just miss him with everything I have.
Graham was a wonderful young man. I knew him at First UMC where he was active as an acolyte with his brother Ballard for some years. None knew him but to like him. He had an open, warm, genuine personality. As his pastor we were good friends and I looked forward to our infrequent visits from time to time.
He always spoke very highly of you reverend. He actually spoke about you pretty often when he only had the best things to say when it came to you. I’m glad you were in his life. And I’m happy he had the chance to introduce us. I loved him with everything I had and more. He really was the love of my life and my soulmate and I want to thank you for the kindness you showed to him because he in turn showed that kindness to many others, which were some of my favorite things about him, his kindness and empathy for others.
Nothing ever prepares you for something like this. I will miss my brother. My daughter will miss her beloved uncle.
I was too depressed and/or sick to make it to his memorial. I was 🤢 and praying to the porcelain gods the whole night after everyone returned. Apparently they couldn’t wake me, which was probably because I hadn’t eaten in days due to my hyperparathyroidism. It makes me very ill for days on end and it’s hard to eat out sleep, but it didn’t stop me from missing him every single day. It didn’t stop me from crying every time something reminded me of him or talking to someone about him, good or bad. It didn’t stop me from reading every comment over and over again and just losing it because they were all beautiful and true about him.
It didn’t stop me from crying because my family couldn’t see him that way because they refused to give him a chance to shore them who he really was. They saw a side of him he was ashamed of. A side that was not the real him. And it was truly ashame, because not I can’t talk to them about him, about why I miss him so much, about why he was such a light in my life, about why he made me laugh whenever I was mad or feeling down. He was smart and you have to be smart to be funny. Trust me, that’s as true a statement as you’ll ever hear.
He was amazing. Yes, we had our ups and downs, like any other couple has. And yes, there were points during our marriage that I thought about giving up and leaving, but I stuck by him because he had a beautiful soul, an alarmingly good sense of humor, a mind that was just as attractive as I found him and I thought he was the most attractive person, man or woman, in the world. I loved him more than life itself. I would trade my life to have him back in a heartbeat.
He was the only person to ever truly make me happy and I was happiest during the last year and a half of our marriage when he took care of his mental and physical health finally. He was the Graham I had been fighting for. The one who loved himself more than anyone else, except me, because he said that would be impossible and I understood and reciprocated that love 100 fold. He had his mood swings, but I took them happily over the other way he dealt with his bad days. He was just Graham and he was amazing. Everything I knew I loved about him was amplified a million times when he was clean. It was the best time of our lives except for dealing with my chronic illness.
He was not a big fan of that. He thought he might lose me. I never once thought that I would lose him. It never crossed my mind once. Then out of nowhere he had a seizure and they weren’t able to restart his heart. Now everything about me is broken without him. I try to go on daily for him, but it’s hard. He was so good to me. Now I need a nurse to come help me with all the basic stuff Graham did for me and it was ALOT! I just wish he were here to comfort me. He’d know what to say. I just don’t. The sport’sorry’s and condolences just make me more upset that he’s gone and idk what to do. But I do love you more than anything, my love. Always and Forever!