(July 14, 2009) - The Rev. Leslie Anthony Branch was chaplain, lieutenant, a retired member of the U.S. Navy and priest in the Archdiocese of Washington.

(May 9, 2009) - Nancy Jeanette Chainey Woodhouse was born on November 13, 1932 to the late Reverend Theodore Jefferson and Helen Jackson Chainey. Nancy was the sixth born of eight children. She was preceded in death by her siblings, Anne, Theodore, Lee, Vernon, Elizabeth, Mary and George.

(May 2, 2009) - Reginald M. Bondurant, Jr. died on March 3, 2009 in Silver Spring, MD after a long illness. He was born August 2, 1927 in Lynchburg, VA. He was the second oldest of four children. He graduated from Dunbar High School in Lynchburg, VA in 1945 and from Howard University in 1951. He lived in Washington, DC and married Hortencia Smith in 1951 and they later divorced. He worked in the Department of Defense as a Management Analyst and retired after thirty years of service in 1985.

(May 2, 2009) - Growing up in Wallace, NC, Ann grew up in a closely-knit, Christian family. Ann, the youngest of six children, was born to Mary Alice and James Oscar Barden on January 29, 1927.

(May 2, 2009) - Jean D. (Keys) Hughes entered this life October 25, 1930 in Washington, DC, the only daughter of Nellie Keys. She entered into eternal rest on Sunday March 15, 2009.

(May 2, 2009) - Alice Irene (Rosie) Turner was born January 12, 1916 in Anne Arundel County, MD. She was one of 9 children. In 1940, she fell in love and married the late James Edward Parker in Lothian, MD.

(May 2, 2009) - Ralph Bunche Johnson Gordon was born May 31, 1955 in Ocilla, GA to Sarah Bell Johnson and Moses Golden Johnson. His young years were spent in Willacoochee, GA and Miami, FL, where he began his education at Holmes Elementary School.

On March 12, Henrietta “Henri” Edmonds, 74, made her transition at Washington Hospital Center. She was surrounded by her pastor, the Rev. Sylvia Sumter, a host of colleagues, students and friends. She was a resident of Silver Spring, Md., and a professor at Howard University’s Department of Theater.

Martha S. Putney died Dec. 11, 2008 at the Community Hospice of Washington. A long-time resident of the area, she was born in Norristown, Pa., and attended the local public school systems there. She earned a bachelor’s and master’s from Howard University and a doctorate in philosophy and history from the University of Pennsylvania.

Bettie Teachey Robertson died Nov. 15, 2008 at her residence. She is the daughter of the late Joseph and Martha Elliot Teachey.