George’s Story

I was born in Flagstaff, Arizona, while my parents were living in Grand Canyon National Park. For the first five years of my life, our family lived at 1 Apache Street inside the park.

My father, Philip Anderson, was the head mechanic for the Fred Harvey Garage, where he and his team maintained and repaired vehicles for the National Park Service and the many tourists who visited the Grand Canyon. My mom was a stay-at-home mom who also watched other kids in the park after school until their parents got off work. I had four siblings — Jakob, Bill, John, Annabelle, and me.

In 1995, we moved to Paulden, Arizona. For about a year, we lived in a fifth wheel while my dad began building a two-story house. The basement became the starting point for his model railroad ballast and scenery business. The upstairs was mainly a large open space, with only three rooms: the bathroom, my parents’ room, and everything else.

The front corner of the upstairs was the kitchen, next to the bathroom. Between the two was the hallway that led to the front of the house. In the back corner, away from the stairs, was my parents’ room. We kids slept on mattresses on the floor — and when company came over, we probably stacked them up somewhere, because I don’t remember them ever being out when visitors were around!

Between 1996 and 1999, my dad built the outside of the house using split-face block. In 2000, he gathered everyone from our church to help build the inside. That summer, we went from just a shell of a house to a finished, livable home. It wasn’t completely done — much of the drywall was still unfinished — but the kitchen, dining room, master bedroom, and bathroom were complete.

I remember the day of 9/11 clearly. We slept upstairs, and that morning we spent the day downstairs, listening to the radio and visiting a friend’s house to watch the news. Later, we finished the drywall in the living room after my dad’s 60th birthday.

I bought a brand-new Kia Soul GT Line in April 2021. I went to my first gay group in November 2021 in Prescott. I started going to dinner with them every Friday and coffee every Saturday from then on till I moved to Camp Verde. In January 2021, I started going on Grinder. I met Cyrus on Grinder in December. My brother went into the ICU on January 18, 2022. In the next three months, my mom will put 30,000 miles on my car going to PHX to see my brother. In March, I spent my first overnight with a guy in a hotel. The next morning, when I got home, my mom informed me that my brother was dying. They need her to go down to Phoenix to find out when they are going to pull the plug. Bill Died 3/8/2022. The first person I told was Cyrus.

I talked to him from January 2022 till March on Snapchat, then on sms. I took him on a date to Prescott in late March. He then kept talking every day, and I would see him every 3-4 days. The first time he saw my house was in June. Then, in July, he came to my house and spent the first night in Paulden. In August, I was on my way to see Cyrus, 2 weeks before we were scheduled to go to a sunrise dance, my engine blew. I had to get it repaired fast. We went down to Bylas for my first sunrise dance. In October, he moved in with me. My mom at first did not have a problem, but then she started really having a problem.

In 2023, my mom really started having problems with me spending more time with him and started making me pay to live there. She made me pay $ 700 for me and $700 for Cyrus. That means that, to live in a bedroom that was less than 200 square feet, use the bathroom, do all the house maintenance, run the family business, and market, I had to work 93 hours for the business. I was really working 30+ hours a month and working 40+ hours for Spindel.

In 2024, my brother John came back from Texas in June. My mom made a promise that if he started drinking, he would get kicked out of a sober living. Let’s say that it never happened.

In September 2024, my brother attacked me, and I got arrested for DV and charged with assault. Finally, I received a plea offer: a misdemeanor and 3 years of probation.

We moved to Cyrus White's brother's house in October 2024.

In October 2025, we got word that we had a house on the Tuli reservation. We are moving in before Christmas.