Deceased December 26, 1999
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In Memory
Joe Branham had a short stay at Amherst. But he did keep in touch. After a year at the College, he transferred to the University of Missouri, where he finished up—still in the Class of 1935. Then, on to Columbia, where he earned a Ph.D. in English.
Degree in hand, Joe found a position teaching English at the Everett Community College in Everett, Wash. Soon he moved over to the local high school. But not for long because Uncle Sam had a uniform to be filled.
After disposing of this unpleasantness, Joe returned to Everett High for quite a spell, partly because there was another English teacher there, nee Mary Thomas, whom he was planning to marry. Which he did.
That led to a long teaching career, which included stops at Whittier College and the University of Iowa. He also did some book writing on the side, one of which, Bed the Turtle Softly, relating legends of the South Pacific, earned him an honorary degree from Trinity College in Dublin. On the side, to earn enough to pay taxes, he had a construction company that built condominia.
In 1977, Mary and Joe retired to their lovely home on Puget Sound. They did a lot of traveling after that, twice going around the world. Joe became a widower a couple of years ago, and now he too has left us.
We wish for them both a soft bed.
John D. Leinbach ’35