Regina Branch

She showed kindness, generosity, and gratitude toward all she met.

Reggie, as she was known to her family and many friends, was born Regina Curtin in Boston in February 1943. She grew up in Auburndale and in Weston.

She went to St. Bernard’s School in West Newton through ninth grade. She graduated from Weston High School in 1959, and from Salve Regina College in Newport, Rhode Island in 1963.

After college she spent nearly a year in Puerto Rico. She also worked as a stewardess, before becoming a social worker in Waltham.

In June 1969 she married Wayne B. Branch, a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve, at St. Julia’s Church in Weston. They were married for 45 years.

The couple lived in the Back Bay of Boston before moving to Weston in 1971.

During weekends and vacations Wayne and Reggie often sailed off the coast of New England, particularly between Cape Cod and the Islands.

Reggie left social work in her 20s but remained a state employee, taking a job in Boston. She spent most of her career with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, where she rose to acting deputy commissioner. She was an expert on municipal finance.

In 1979 she earned a master’s degree in public administration from Northeastern University.

In 1991, after the state government took over the local government in the bankrupt city of Chelsea, Reggie was recruited by the state receiver, James Carlin, to help him run the city on behalf of the state.

She helped root out corrupt diversion of city funds and the city’s goods and services, cleaning up mismanagement of government accounts and practices.

In addition to her bureaucratic functions, she also helped guide public policy. Amid widespread budget cuts needed to close a revenue gap, she investigated and helped save the city’s public library and an early childhood program in the city’s public schools. Her advocacy and creativity later drew coverage in Parade Magazine and The Boston Globe.

The 12-to-16-hour days in Chelsea wore her out, and Reggie retired in 1995. Wayne also retired from Unisys Corporation, an information technology company, around the same time.

Wayne and Reggie moved to Thornton, New Hampshire that year, trading the ocean for the White Mountains. Reggie was an avid walker, often going about four miles a day on a nearby mountain trail.

In November 2014, Wayne and Reggie moved to St. James Plantation, North Carolina, where Reggie made many friends and participated in multiple book clubs.

After Wayne died in December 2014, Reggie continued to live in North Carolina until April 2024, when she moved to Cape Cod to be closer to family. She lived at Maplewood at Mayflower Place, an independent living facility in West Yarmouth, for the last year and a half of her life.

She was the loving daughter of the late James V. Curtin and Margaret Mary (Kenney) Curtin.

She was the dear sister of the late Margaret M. (Curtin) McDonald.

She leaves Wayne’s brother, Paul Branch, who lives in Florida; and Wayne’s sister, Janet Rattray, who lives in California.

Reggie had no children. But she treated many children as if they were her own, including her nephew, Matthew J. McDonald, of Mashpee; his wife, Kelly McDonald; and Reggie’s eight grand-nephews and grand-nieces: Brendan, Patrick, Erin, Nora, Seamus, Brigid, Maureen, and Fiona.

The same can be said for her husband Wayne’s nephews and nieces: Mary Branch, David Branch, and Daniel Branch; and Jill Rattray, Tracey Rattray, and Adam Rattray.

As one of them said recently, Reggie was the fun aunt.

A wake is scheduled for 3 to 7 p.m. Monday, November 24 at Doane, Beale & Ames at 160 West Main Street in Hyannis, Massachusetts.

A funeral Mass is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, November 25 at Corpus Christi Church at 324 Quaker Meetinghouse Road in Sandwich, Massachusetts.

Burial is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, November 26 at the Branch family plot at Evergreen Cemetery at Route 6 and Converse Road in Marion, Massachusetts.

Family and friends are welcome to all three.

Reggie was delighted with the hospice care she received at McCarthy Care Center during the last week of her life, and was grateful for it. Donations in her name may be made to the hospice center via Cape Cod Health Care Foundation.

If making a donation online, click on “Benefiting” and then “VNA of Cape Cod McCarthy Care Center” at the following web site:

https://support.givetocapecodhealth.org/

If donating by U.S. mail, make a check out to Cape Cod Healthcare Foundation and send to:  Cape Cod Healthcare Foundation, for McCarthy Care Center, P.O. Box 370, Hyannis, Massachusetts 02601.