Nathan Branson
September 20, 1983 – June 15, 2024
| Carteret Writers was saddened to learn of the passing of Carteret Writers member and Carteret Community College English Professor, Nate Branson. Nate was a passionate teacher of English and Creative Writing. His enthusiasm for introducing creative writing and its transformative powers to his students is evident in the tributes posted by his former students. He will be sorely missed. |
| Last summer, Emily Carter taught a poetry workshop as part of the Hooks and Lines series at Carteret Community College. Emily led Nate, me, and the others present through an evening of thinking differently about poems and writing poetry. I wrote in my notes that night that “poetry is fun words scribing serious thoughts.” We definitely had fun playing with words, and in that fun we also expressed some serious emotions and shared deep experiences. It was my first exposure to Nate’s writing, and his poem about his fiancé left a deep impression with me about his skill with words and his capacity for caring. |
| Nate also shared some of his writing at our Lightning Pitch in May. He wrote a moving piece called “The Best and Worst Kind of Reunion” about his experience at the combined funeral for his brother and his brother’s fiancé in 2007. During a profoundly sad time for him and his family, he noticed how the gathering to share grief brought people together and he felt support from people he hadn’t expected to. He further wondered how we could bring people together to connect in similarly meaningful ways without having it be at a funeral. |
| I wish we had a more positive reason to share all the good ways that Nate influenced our local writing community, particularly at Carteret Community College. Nate leaves us with an encouragement to share our stories through his blog post (linked below), and a charge to seek to connect with people whenever you can. |
| Further information about services and tributes can be found at the J.C. Green & Sons Funeral Home website here. |
| To read some of Nate’s inspiring words about story telling, click here to visit his blog. |
| The Board of Directors |
| Carteret Writers, Inc. |
