Mark Allen Branson

On January 9, 1997 the stars shined less brightly, because of the passing of former National Theater of the Deaf actor, Mark Allen Branson. This friend to many in the Boston Deaf Community suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in his Dallas, Texas home. Mark was diagnosed this past October with lymphoma. He was having chemotherapy treatments, was doing well. Also, as many know, he had been HIV positive for 12 years, and had recently learned his viral load was at "zero." Mark lived his life fully. He had been a teacher of the Deaf; an actor in many varied stage productions including several with Boston Theater of the Deaf, "One More Spring" and "Odyssey" with National Theater of the Deaf and his own one-man touring show, "The Trunk"; played the role of William Wilkes in the Disney movie, "Huckleberry Finn"; a presenter of acting and interpreter training workshops; taught ASL most recently at Collin County Community College (Plano, Texas); and an HIV/AIDS counselor and outreach coordinator for the Dallas Deaf/Hearing Impaired Community. He was also very involved in civic activities and served on committees that would improve Deaf individual rights and Deaf children's education.