Submitted photo Pictured is Branden Green, Jamestown native and Southwestern Central School alumni, and his wife Samantha Romero. Green was killed earlier in December at his place of work in Virginia.

There are some people in this world that are “not normal”, in the best way possible, remembered not only for their many accomplishments but also for who they were as a person, and Jamestown native and Southwestern Central School alumni Branden Green, is one such person.

Green graduated from Southwestern in 2000, and enlisted in the United States Army in 2001 as an officer upon completion of his Bachelors of Science Degree from Cornell University. He served a combat tour in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2012, shortly after earning the rank of Captain as well as completing his Master of Science Degree from California University of Pennsylvania. Green was honorably discharged from the Army in 2013 after his final assignment as a Commander of a Warrior Transition Unit. Following that, Green continued his service by working with Disabled Veterans and Active-Duty Service Members – serving as a scuba instructor, Program Manager for Adaptive Reconditioning, and Performance Center Manager for the Ready and Resilient Program. He also spent time working as a Trainmaster on the Louisiana railroads.

On December 11, Green was killed at his place of work in Virginia, Tri-River ASAP, which stands for Alcohol Safety Action Program, where he served as executive director.

Steve Alvin Curry, 66, was arrested at his Lancaster home about two hours later without incident and charged in connection with Green’s murder. Curry faces charges of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in connection with a felony and is being held without bond in the Gloucester County Jail. He is scheduled to make a preliminary appearance in Gloucester General District Court on Jan. 7, 2026.

Green was 43 years old. Green’s family and best friend, Branden Smith, remain in the local area.

Smith first met Green when they were at school together at Southwestern. While they were in the same class since kindergarten, he said they did not really become best friends until seventh grade track, where they became inseparable.

“Branden was without a doubt my closest friend,” Smith said. “In a lot of ways we were kind of closer, though Branden had brothers, we were almost closer to being brothers. … There was nothing I couldn’t talk to him about or confide in him about. He was as good as a person could be and as loyal and loving as a friend could be, while at the same time he would have no qualms breaking my balls about anything because we were just that kind of friends.”

Smith described losing Green as extremely hard and emotional, saying that Green was arguably his favorite person, someone who would do anything for anyone and was wonderful. He added there was not a mean or malicious bone in his body.

“He was silly, quirky, as smart as they come, but silly,” Smith said. “He didn’t take himself too seriously at all. He was a massive wealth of knowledge, both useful and useless nonsense. He was just silly, and amazing, and great and the world is a way worse place now that he’s not in it.”

Smith added that there are “very few people in the world that you could say better things about”, and that there were very few things he could not engage in a conversation about. This includes music such as songs off of an ABBA album, or as noted in his obituary, fixing a vending machine, rebuilding a hard-drive, flipping a house, knowing the meaning behind the Earl of Sandwich, and the ability to hand-crochet a quilt or 3D print a AAA battery holder.

“He was very well-versed but not arrogant at all about it,” Smith said. “He was very, very humble. There’s just too much to unpack, this wasn’t a normal person, far from it.”

Smith described losing Green as an absolute tragedy and a shocker. He said they were talking and texting normally the night before with their same “silly, half-inappropriate nonsense”. Smith emphasized Green’s sense of humor along with his being extremely driven and motivated, two things that come together in one of his final focuses in life. Green was two-months shy of getting his doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Liberty University at the time of his death. The University has since awarded him his doctorate posthumously since his death.

“I don’t think he necessarily wanted to have a doctorate to further his career or anything, I think he thought it was just really badass to just be a doctor,” Smith said. “That was just the kind of person Branden was, just ‘you know what, I want to be a doctor in something’.”

Something that Smith said is really important to him and something that Green always said to him in a joking way was that after he achieved his doctorate that Smith would have to refer to him as Dr. Green from then on anytime afterwards.

Also being a captain in the Army, Smith said he may even have insisted on Dr. Captain Green, saying that now he will not have many chances to be known as Dr. Green. Smith emphasized again that Green was not in any way arrogant, was very humble, and had the best sense of humor, also being voted class clown in their senior year at Southwestern. Green was also a good athlete in school, including track and being captain of the wrestling team. Smith added that Green would not have liked the attention that has come after his death, as someone who did not like fuss, but that in a way Smith enjoyed that he was able to bring Green attention now, as a way of “breaking his balls a little more.” While there is no single most important thing Smith said he would want people to know about Green, he feels it is important to not focus on his death but more who he was as a person.

“I would’ve loved to have been his favorite person in the world,” Smith said. “I was one of them, but without a doubt his wife Sam was his favorite person in the world. He lived for her.”

Green’s wife, Samantha Romero, lives in Hardyville, Va.,where the two resided together. They were married on October 30, 2017.

On February 1 Green’s friends and family can attend services at War Veterans Recreation located at 3431 Fluvanna Avenue Extension in Fluvanna, which will include full military honors.