Salley Branch, former Allendale County DSS director, dies at 64

Fairfax First Baptist Church hosted a viewing and celebration of life for Salley Burbage Branch, 64, with family, friends and church members gathering Sunday, May 24, to remember a woman whose work and family name were both well known in Allendale County. M.F. Riley’s Funeral Home handled the arrangements for Branch, who was identified in the funeral notice as the wife of Judge Willard Branch.

Branch died Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at her residence in Fairfax. The funeral-home notice and the obituary both placed her death squarely in the center of the county’s current news cycle, giving neighbors a clear time and place for the loss while also pointing to the church where the community could come together. A viewing was held at Fairfax First Baptist Church from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., followed by the service at 2:30 p.m.

Born July 19, 1961, in Charleston, Branch was part of a local and regional story that stretched far beyond Fairfax. She graduated from Middleton High School in 1979, earned a degree from the College of Charleston in 1985 and later graduated from The Citadel in 1995. Those milestones traced a long academic path before she returned to public service in the Lowcountry.

Branch worked for the South Carolina Department of Social Services for 28 years and most recently served as County Director in Allendale County. The agency announced her as the new Allendale County DSS director on Sept. 27, 2022, and said she began the job on Sept. 2 that year. In a county where agency leadership matters to families, schools and vulnerable residents, Branch’s role carried practical weight well beyond her own office.

Her obituary said she was a member of Fairfax First Baptist Church and was especially active in the choir. It also named her parents, Glen and Doris Burbage, and said she enjoyed reading, the beach, baking, Clemson Tiger football and time with her family. Those details painted a portrait of a woman rooted in both civic duty and ordinary family life.

The Branch name is familiar in Fairfax government circles as well. Willard D. Branch, Jr. has served as a magistrate judge for Allendale County and also held the municipal judge post in Fairfax until the town terminated him in January 2024. In a small town, those overlapping public and private roles made Salley Branch’s death not just a family loss, but a civic one as well.