Charles J. "Junior" Branham

Charles J. “Junior” Branham, age 90, of Grants Pass, died Tuesday, December 2, 2014 at The Suites.

A memorial service will be at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, December 13, 2014 at Hull & Hull Chapel. Private interment will be at Wilderville Cemetery. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

Memorial donations may be made to Asante Hospice, 2960 Doctors Park Drive, Medford, Oregon 97504.

Charles was born October 4, 1924 in Remlap, Alabama, to Charley & Nancy Branham, the baby of nine siblings. He grew up on a small dirt farm with four brothers and four sisters. He remembers enjoying homemade vanilla ice cream as a child, and at the age of 11 he learned to play the harmonica. He had a theory, “If it shoots sh*t without splattering it’s a good gun.” Although his education stopped at the fifth grade, make no mistake, Charles is a wise man today. The “Golden Rule” he always lived by was “treat others how you would like to be treated.” In 1951 he moved his family to Chicago where he took up a job at C&O Railroad for 17 years. He then went to work with Southern Pacific Railroad in California. In 1985, after retiring, he moved from Pomona, California to Grants Pass and called Oregon his home.

Charles hobbies included listening to country music, playing his harmonica and old western movies.

Survivors include two daughters, Shirley Bertagnolli and Helen Binstein both of Grants Pass; 11 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren.

Preceding him in death was his wife of 54 years, Hazel “Virginia” Branham who died on June 1, 1996; two sons, Charles Branham and James William Branham.