Julia Branch Burgess

Julia Branch BurgessBluffton, SCMrs. Julia Branch Burgess, 91, of Bluffton, SC, died Thursday, September 6, 2007. She was the mother of Jane T. Upshaw, University of South Carolina Beaufort Chancellor.Mrs. Burgess was born in Chambers County, AL on October 16, 1915. She was the daughter of the late William Emory and Margaret Knight Branch. She moved to the Fairfax community of Valley, AL as a young child, graduated from Fairfax High School in 1934 and attended Athens College in Athens, AL. She was married to the late Roy H. Burgess and was an active member of Fairfax First Christian Church. She was employed as a telephone operator and as a teacher at Fairfax Kindergarten.After her husband became a minister, Mrs. Burgess served beside him at the Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ) of Alabama in Roanoke, Union at Tuskegee and Macedonia at Tallassee. In 1974, they moved to Dothan, AL and served the first Christian Church. In 1982, they moved to Jasper to serve the First Christian Church where they retired in 1990 and returned to Dothan.Mrs. Burgess was a member of the Fairfax Variety Club, the Jasper Culture Club and the Christian Women