Branch Tucker Fields, Jr. MD

Branch T. Fields, Jr. MD, 83, of Williamsburg passed away peacefully at home on Monday, March 21, 2022. He was born to Branch Tucker Fields Sr. and Ruth Elizabeth Johns Fields on January 8, 1939. After graduating from Hendrix College in Conway, AR, he earned his medical degree at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine where he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha and earned the Buchanan Key Award for academic excellence in 1963. After an internship in Chapel Hill, NC he returned to the University of Arkansas for an Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Disease Fellowship. He met the love of his life, Jaylene Davey, in the summer of 1962 and they were married in 1965. Drafted in 1968, he served two years at Wilford Hall Hospital, Lackland Air Force Base before returning to Little Rock with his family. There he joined the faculty of Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease at the University of Arkansas and the Veterans Administration Medical Center. Branch and Jaylene had four children and made many happy memories in Arkansas before setting out to live near the coast. They settled in Williamsburg and he established the Infectious Disease department at the VA Hospital in Hampton and served as Chief of Infectious Disease. He also joined the faculty of Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, driven by his enduring commitment to academic medicine. His move to the VA in Hampton coincided with the rise of the AIDS epidemic and would come to define the next three decades of his career. He cared deeply for his patients and devoted countless hours to research and longterm care on their behalf. Despite long hours at the hospital, he was committed to his family and serving in their church, The Williamsburg Community Chapel. His love of music and old movies endured throughout his life. He is survived and celebrated by his wife Jaylene; children Sarah Fields, Branch (Mya) Fields, Molly (Ika) Zaken, and Hannah (Dave) Tell; eight grandchildren Noah, Elijah, Trinity, Zoe, Eitan, Talia, Jackson, and Ashlyn; sisters Annie Belle Fields Weymark and Candace Wright; and brother Patrick Rives Fields. A memorial service is planned for 2pm on Sunday, March 27th at the Williamsburg Community Chapel. A private burial will be held at Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Amelia, Virginia.