[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 30, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             A TRIBUTE IN HONOR OF ONEIDA ``MOTHER'' BRANCH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 30, 2011

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the long and loving 
life of Oneida ``Mother'' Branch, the heart and soul of the East Palo 
Alto, California, community, who died in her home on March 22, 2011. 
For 92 years, Mother Branch put the ``active'' in activist, devoting 
her life to her family, her church, and her community.
  Born in New Orleans, Mother Branch moved to East Palo Alto half a 
century ago to start a church with her late husband, the Reverend James 
Branch. After helping to start St. John Missionary Baptist Church, 
Mother Branch taught Sunday school and founded a sewing club, attending 
services until just a month before she died. Widely known and respected 
for her prodigious knowledge of church history and her willingness to 
help others, Mother Branch was a deeply religious woman who was revered 
by the entire community.
  But Mother Branch's charity was not confined to church. ``Mother was 
a little lady with a massive heart,'' Paul Nyberg, Publisher of the Los 
Altos Town Crier, once said. ``She was an unabashed Christian reaching 
out to help everyone in need.'' In the 1970's, Mother Branch 
established the East Palo Alto Community Center to provide food, 
comfort, and support to those in need. For decades, she dispensed 
canned food, blankets, and clothing--as well as uproarious stories and 
sage advice--to the people of East Palo Alto, working especially hard 
to promote education and the dignity of women.
  Even while she performed her good works, Mother Branch experienced a 
series of difficult setbacks. The first Community Center office burned 
down just before Thanksgiving of 1977, and a flood later destroyed her 
second office. Mother Branch kept aiding her community, spending what 
little money she had on temporary storage units and continuing to 
distribute supplies from her own home--which burned down as well. 
Motivated by a heroic desire to help, even as a stroke at the age of 86 
kept her in the hospital for only two days, she went back to work. ``No 
one should suffer,'' she would say.
  A constant whirlwind of wisdom and affection, Mother Branch always 
seemed younger than her years . . . which was in fact the opposite. 
Over the course of resolving a mortgage issue in 2007, Mother Branch 
discovered that she was actually three years older than she'd thought. 
But the aid she gave was ageless, touching generations of East Palo 
Alto residents. Over the years, she would proudly observe, ``I have 
seen people stand on their own feet.'' This was perhaps her greatest 
quality, her ability to strengthen and sustain the lives of those 
around her. She lived her faith daily, and recognized the godliness in 
every human being.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in extending our deepest 
condolences to Mother Branch's children: Erwin Babney, Whitney Babney, 
and Nate Branch, her grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, as well as 
all the residents of East Palo Alto. Mother Branch was deeply rooted in 
her community, nourishing everyone she met with her light, love, and 
laughter. I'm proud to have known such a caring and extraordinary 
matriarch and distinguished citizen of our community and our country.

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