BY TODD MAISEL
Mill Basin resident Odran
“Pat” Branley is the last one of
his four children and six grandchildren
to fi nish college.
On May 31, the 88-year-old
retired FDNY lieutenant was
back in red — this time a St.
John’s University Red Storm
sweatshirt — for what would
have been his graduation ceremony,
if not for the novel coronavirus.
Branley dropped out of college
60 years ago to focus on
his family and his Fire Department
duties, but only needed
two classes to fi nish his bachelor’s
degree — until his old fraternity
friends from St. John’s
spurred the lifelong Brooklynite
to give it another go.
“I just needed the two
classes and one professor, Connie
Frisch was especially good
to me. She took this dopey kid
who was illiterate of the internet,
and showed me how to set
up an email address and she
coached me through the online
classes,” said Branley. “You
know, 80 is the new 60, so why
not?”
Driver critically injures
10-year-old in Canarsie
10-year-old girl in Canarsie on
June 7, critically injuring her,
police said.
girl, whom police have not identifi
7 while heading northbound on
Remsen Avenue by Avenue L.
Police from the 69th Precinct
said it appeared that the girl
was crossing the street in the
crosswalk when she was hit.
girl to Brookdale University
Medical Center in critical condition
driver for intoxication but have
COURIER L 22 IFE, JUNE 12-18, 2020
When he started classes, the
gray-bearded Branley was excited,
but his fellow classmates
thought he was their professor,
he said, adding, “I told them I’m
a senior senior.”
Branley said he was forced
to leave college in 1960, when
his fi refi ghting duties became
too great and he was starting a
family with his wife of 48 years,
Betty. He then spent the next 31
years with the FDNY, mostly
with Engine 248 in Flatbush,
and then his last eight years
with Engine 284, the “Castle on
the Hill” in Dyker Heights.
In his fi rst year on the job,
Branley said he responded to
the great Brooklyn plane crash
of December, 1960 that killed
134 people, and during his early
years, he recalls vacant buildings
being set on fi re by owners
— the old “urban renewal,”
he said, adding that so many
buildings owners in the 1970’s
couldn’t afford to keep their
buildings during the recession
years, and some even abandoned
them.
“I hope we don’t go there
again because the way we are
going now, God almighty –
six months from now, the city
could be bankrupt with no tax
base and again, they are talking
about possible layoffs and
furloughs,” Branley said. “It
was very painful for a lot of
guys back in the 70’s.”
Branley remembers working
the night Martin Luther
King, Jr. was assassinated. “It
was so sad,” he said, drawing
a similarity to current events.
“Now you see the images of
that man with the cop kneeling
on him, George Floyd — it
reminded me of when Mathew
Shepard was tied to a fence
in Wyoming. When I saw the
video of Floyd, I told my daughters
not to look.”
He retired from the FDNY
in 1991, having served 31 years
with the department and, although
he lost his wife to rheumatoid
arthritis 12 years ago,
Branley remains devoted to
family.
All of his grown children
have college degrees, he said
— three are lawyers and one
is a teacher. Just last year, he
attended his youngest granddaughter
Zoe’s high school
graduation from St. Francis
Prep.
“A bachelor’s degree was
like fi lling a void. I had already
did things they mention in the
invocation, it is all done for
me,” Branley sighed. “I always
felt that void – I came so close to
fi nishing. I just needed a push
from my fraternity brothers.”
On May 31, during a weekend
of unrest across the country,
Branley was set to fi nally
graduate — but since the
COVID-19 pandemic forced the
closure of St. John’s and the
cancellation of its commencement
ceremony, he was unable
to walk down the aisle with
younger students.
Branley, however, was all
smiles that sunny Sunday.
“I’m sitting here in my house
by myself on day of graduation,
but look — a lot of people my age
are dying with no fanfare so I’m
not complaining,” Branley said.
“School itself was a great challenge
with everything breaking
down, but I made it to the fi nish
online, so I’m gonna hang it up
and get the ring.”
A long time coming
Retired fi refi ghter fi nishes degree 60 years later
Odran “Pat” Branley, 88, graduated from St. John’s University on May 31,
60 years after starting. Photo by Debbie Egan-Chin
BY TODD MAISEL
An SUV driver struck a
A female driver struck the
ed, at about 1:50 pm on June
First responders rushed the
with severe trauma injuries.
Police on the scene tested the
not deemed the incident criminal
and have made no arrests.
A witness said that the driver
appeared to be speeding.
“She was laying there motionless
— the lady was fl ying
down Remsen Avenue,” said
Roger Clark, who lives nearby.
“She was in rough shape.”
Another resident agreed,
adding that the drivers typically
speed on the avenue.
“These people fl y up and
down Remsen Avenue with
very little regard for human
life. She looked like she was in a
rush and crushed the girl,” said
Shane Messler, another local.
The crash is under investigation
by the NYPD’s Collision Investigation
Squad.
The crash scene near Remsen Avenue and Avenue L in Canarsie. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell