Jane A Branch

Longtime Palm Harbor resident, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother Jane Ann (Graves) Branch died peacefully in her sleep July, 4, 2017 at Suncoast Hospice North Pinellas in Palm Harbor after experiencing a brief illness. She was 88. Jane was the oldest of three children born to Anna and Claude Graves, aka Ma and Pop. They resided in Washington, D.C. She was just out of high school and working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture when she met the man who would become her husband of 66 years, John Wesley Branch. The two married in 1950 and lived in Germany and Chantilly, VA, where they raised their family before moving to Palm Harbor, FL, in 1979. For several years, Jane and Wes enjoyed vacationing at their DucktownTennessee cabin, nestled in a remote corner of the Great Smoky Mountains. They also enjoyed their waterfront home in Hernando Beach. She loved doing the daily crossword puzzle in the Tampa Bay Times (and calling the clues out to Wes so he could help with the answers), having lunch with friends and fellow volunteers at the Palm Harbor Library, reading, shopping, eating ice cream and watching the sun set over Crystal Beach, where she took her first selfie. Quick with a joke and eager to sing along whenever Wes put a roll of Gershwin tunes on the player piano, Jane made everyone in the family feel like they were No. 1 on her list. She would likely advise anyone saddened by news of her passing to “Buck up!” Family was everything to Jane, and she is surely happy to be reunited with the ones who went before her, with whom she spent so many happy years and shared such cherished memories. Predeceased by mother Anna Marie (Ready) Graves and William Claude Graves, aunts Nelly Sykes and Margaret A. Ready and uncle Joseph Ready, sister Agnes (Sis) Lewison and brother William (Billy) Graves, Jane is survived by her husband Wes and her sister-in-law Rose Marie Graves; her children, Brian (Debbie), Brenda Smith (Jon), Eric (Susan), Julie Fuhrer (John); six grandchildren: Sara Cardine, Aaron Hunt-Branch (Krystal), Alex Hunt-Branch (Becky), Anna Fuhrer, Abby Fuhrer and Sam Fuhrer; and her 1-year-old great grandson, Cooper Wesley. A memorial mass will be held at St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church, 2757 Alderman Road in Palm Harbor, FL, on Saturday August 5 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Jane’s name to the Palm Harbor Friends of the Library, 2330 Nebraska Ave., Palm Harbor, FL 34683 | (727) 784-3332 or to Suncoast Hospice North Pinellas, suncoasthospicefoundation.org/donations.