Truckin' on the Western Branch

Image by Sheally

Arthur “Art” Vernon Brandriff Art Brandriff came to Western Branch from his native Pennsville, New Jersey, via Virginia Military Institute, the Detroit Lions, and the Boston Patriots. A Lions draftee, he played one year as a wide receiver for the Patriots in the team’s first year in the AFL. He worked as an engineer in Baltimore and coached in Courtland before coming to Churchland as a physical education teacher and football coach in 1963. My first impression of this area was that it was beautiful, in the suburbs but still in the country with lots of nice people. Churchland then was a very good school academically with not too many problems. We had about 1,000 kids and lots of community support. Henry Willett hired me, and Frank Beck was the principal. When the schools split, they were very comparable academically. Western Branch and Churchland combined would have been unbelievably good academically and athletically. Western Branch opened in 1968 and 25 teachers from Churchland came over to the new school. Seniors that year could choose between the two. We had 7th to 12th grade with some sections of 6th graders and opened as the only school in the area that was totally integrated. We had 90 kids in our first graduating class. Western Branch was innovative with a 4 x 4 schedule, five languages, and classes as small as three students.

Art Brandriff, principal to vintner. Image by Sheally

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