Realtor, former city councilor loved people
Oct. 17—Michael Paul Branch led a lot of different lives — as a member of the U.S. Air Force, Realtor, city councilor, regent, business owner, father, grandfather and friend.
For decades, he seemed to be everywhere at once in Santa Fe, moving from role to role like a performer looking for a new script or challenge.
"He did a little bit of everything," said his son, Jeff Branch. "He got to know the community pretty well and the community got to know him. He loved people."
The elder Branch died Oct. 11 at the age of 85. He had fought against cancer, heart trouble and other ailments before succumbing to the various health complications they brought upon him.
He understood, as his son put it, the lights were turning out, and he died peacefully at his home surrounded by family members.
Michael Paul Branch was born March 30, 1938, in the small village of Gate City, where his father ran a restaurant and bar.
Following his dad's death, Branch's mother enrolled him and his siblings in what was then known as the Spanish American Normal School, which included a vocational training division. Over the years, that El Rito-based institute, which underwent a number of mission, identity and name changes, became Northern New Mexico College, now primarily housed in Española. Branch graduated from high school in 1954 at the age of 16, his son said.
Branch worked for a time in a shipyard in the Midwest before joining the U.S. Air Force in 1956, his son said. He served for four years, both in communications and transportation logistics.
That experience "opened his eyes up to the world, to different people and different cultures," said Jeff Branch.
Returning to New Mexico, he worked for a trucking company in Santa Fe and earned a degree in business from the now-defunct College of Santa Fe before eventually opening his own office supply store on Montezuma Avenue with his brother-in-law. In the late 1970s, he obtained his Realtor's license and opened Branch Realty, which is still in business today.
Meanwhile, he found time to serve on the Santa Fe City Council for two terms, playing a role in helping to move City Hall into its current premises on Lincoln Avenue.
Jeff Branch said his father, as a councilor, had a "strong sense that city government's role is to take care of basic services — parks and roads and sewers and police."
Former Santa Fe Mayor Sam Pick recalled Branch as "a wonderful guy, dedicated to the city, like the Energizer Bunny" who enjoyed talking about his family's history in the state. The Branches migrated from Virginia to New Mexico via the Old Santa Fe Trail in the 1800s.
Branch also returned, to some degree, to his original school when he served for over a decade as a member of the board of regents at Northern New Mexico College.
Jeff Branch said his father's real passion was genealogy. He recalled him setting up a huge poster board held together with yarn and featuring index cards with his family's genealogy laid out on it.
"People and history and having those connections was key to him," Jeff Branch said. "He lived a great life and touched a lot of people."
Michael Branch is survived by his wife, Maria "Maida" Branch, three children, six grandchildren and other relatives.
