Obituary of Beatrice Bowen Branham-Shirley

ELGIN – A service to celebrate the life of Beatrice Bowen Branham-Shirley, 101, will be held Friday, November 5, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. Highway Pentecostal Holiness Church with burial to follow in the church cemetery. The Rev. Jimmy Floyd and the Rev. Tim McIver will officiate. The family will receive friends following the service in the church fellowship hall. 

    Mrs. Branham-Shirley, wife of 63 years to the late Herbert Alvin Branham, passed away Saturday, October 23, 2021. Born in Kershaw County, she was the daughter of the late Zach and Avie Branham Bowen.

     Mrs. Branham-Shirley was a founding member of Highway Pentecostal Holiness Church where she taught Sunday school, sang in a variety of singing groups, and organized and directed the youth choir and nursing home ministry. She was a member of the Women Ministry and was named “Pioneer Woman of the Year” in 2007.  She enjoyed shopping, sewing, crafts, flowers, and camping.  Mrs. Shirley was a loving and devoted wife, mother, and grandmother.

    Surviving are her children, A. Gene Branham (Marie) of Ridgeway, Larry D. Branham (Christine) of Elgin, Muriel Drawdy (Luther) of Elgin and Machelle Frazier (Anthony) of Leesburg, Fla.; 12 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and 13 great-great-grandchildren.  She was predeceased by her second husband of 7 years, Homer Shirley; 11 siblings and 1 great-granddaughter.

     Memorials may be made to Highway Pentecostal Holiness Church, 2290 Heath Pond Road, Elgin, SC 29045, or to Gideons International, www.sendtheword.org, or to Crescent Hospice, 1370 Browning Road, Ste. 110, Columbia, SC 29210.

     The family wishes to thank the staff of Southwinds Assisted Living and the staff of Crescent Hospice for their exceptional care and devotion to mom.

     The family requests masks be worn due to COVID-19.