To be published in July 2023, my first book Sisters tells the stories of my mom Ellen’s older sisters and my aunts Sisters Serena and Anna Marie Branson.
Members of the Catholic religious order the Daughters of Charity, their examples informed my desire to become a gospel person, who lives simply, works for justice, promotes peace and respects lives at all stages and situations.
The oldest of Marine Band Leader Captain Taylor and Marie Quill Branson’s five children, Serena is best known as the first woman in the United States to run a diocesan Catholic Charities’ agency: Catholic Charities of Albany, New York, which she led from 1974 to 1990.
In a lifetime of firsts, Serena established the Astor Home for Children in 1952, the first national residential treatment program for emotionally disturbed children. In 1958, with a generous gift from the family, Serena established the Kennedy Child Study Center, the nation’s first national residential treatment program for exceptional children.
Honored numerous times for her work, after 71 years of service and advocacy, Serena received Catholic Charities U.S.A.’s Vision Award in 2002 when she was 89. The agency’s highest honor was also bestowed upon late Apartheid opponent Desmond Tutu, noted death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean and former agency President, Jesuit priest Fred Kammer.
Anna Marie, Taylor and Marie’s third child, is best recalled for the 20 years she worked as a missionary accompanying Bolivia’s indigenous poor.
She intrepidly began new missions from the ground up, worked as a nurse, helped form the Daughters’ first Bolivian province and trained indigenous women to promote healthy lifestyles for their communities.
In her final year of her life, with her health failing precipitously, along with the late Sister Stephanie Murray, Anna Marie began the work, with which she’s most closely associated: San Vincente Albergue (St. Vincent’s Hostel).
There, cooking for them, listening compassionately to them, tending to their physical and spiritual needs, Anna Marie became “Madrecita” (little mother) to 30 boys and young men, who had been abandoned by their families and were living on Cochabamba’s streets.
Her modest effort grew into a thriving non profit known as Amanecer (Dawn).
Ignoring her own suffering precipitated by her declining health, Anna Marie embodied Pope Paul VI’s words: “To do swiftly, to do perfectly, to do joyfully all you ask of me now, even if it surpasses my strength and demands my life.”
Everyone who knew my aunt felt as if they were in a saint’s company. Sisters aims to promote that worthiest of causes.
You can obtain your signed copy of Sisters for $25 (includes shipping and handling) by completing the form below. Please specify to whom you want the books signed and provide your mailing address. Checks and money orders (Venmo is also an option). Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.
Chris Byrd 