THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
'WATCH OVER YOUR CHILDREN'
SLAIN BOY'S MOM ADDRESSES SCHOOL
By: John Beifuss
June 3, 1993
Pam Hobbs is leaving the town where her son Steve Branch spent the last five of his eight years of life.
Wednesday, she had a final message for the parents, teachers and children assembled in the cafeteria of Weaver Elementary School in West Memphis, where Steve was posthumously awarded three certificates for academic achievement.
"Parents please, always, always be a little overprotective of your children," she said, ignoring the exact wording of the handwritten speech she had unfolded from her pocket. "I'm not saying tomorrow, next week, but always, forever, forever - watch over your children."
The beaten and bound bodies of Steve, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers were discovered May 5, submerged in a ditch near their school and homes. The 8-year-old classmates had been missing since the evening before. West Memphis police have reported no breaks in the case.
Hobbs, 29, said thinking about her son's death makes her "fighting mad."
After the murders, she quit her job at Catfish Island, a restaurant not far from where the bodies were discovered. Now, she and her husband, Terry Hobbs, are leaving the house they rent in West Memphis and moving in with her mother, Marie Hicks of Blytheville. The house is not far from Steve's grave in Steele, Mo. The families of the other children plan to remain in West Memphis.
Mrs. Hobbs was a room mother for the second-grade classroom her son shared with Chris Byers. She spoke Wednesday to Steve's classmates as she cleaned out her son's desk.
"We were blessed with a child as great as Steve was," she said.
She told the children that even if they are not honor students as Steve was this year, they can be next year. Afterward, drying her eyes, she said: "I try not to cry, because I don't want the children to think something bad when they see me."
Steve wasn't the only child honored during the awards ceremony in the cafeteria. Others also received certificates of recognition. Mrs. Hobbs gave each one a standing ovation.
'WATCH OVER YOUR CHILDREN'
SLAIN BOY'S MOM ADDRESSES SCHOOL
By: John Beifuss
June 3, 1993
Pam Hobbs is leaving the town where her son Steve Branch spent the last five of his eight years of life.
Wednesday, she had a final message for the parents, teachers and children assembled in the cafeteria of Weaver Elementary School in West Memphis, where Steve was posthumously awarded three certificates for academic achievement.
"Parents please, always, always be a little overprotective of your children," she said, ignoring the exact wording of the handwritten speech she had unfolded from her pocket. "I'm not saying tomorrow, next week, but always, forever, forever - watch over your children."
The beaten and bound bodies of Steve, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers were discovered May 5, submerged in a ditch near their school and homes. The 8-year-old classmates had been missing since the evening before. West Memphis police have reported no breaks in the case.
Hobbs, 29, said thinking about her son's death makes her "fighting mad."
After the murders, she quit her job at Catfish Island, a restaurant not far from where the bodies were discovered. Now, she and her husband, Terry Hobbs, are leaving the house they rent in West Memphis and moving in with her mother, Marie Hicks of Blytheville. The house is not far from Steve's grave in Steele, Mo. The families of the other children plan to remain in West Memphis.
Mrs. Hobbs was a room mother for the second-grade classroom her son shared with Chris Byers. She spoke Wednesday to Steve's classmates as she cleaned out her son's desk.
"We were blessed with a child as great as Steve was," she said.
She told the children that even if they are not honor students as Steve was this year, they can be next year. Afterward, drying her eyes, she said: "I try not to cry, because I don't want the children to think something bad when they see me."
Steve wasn't the only child honored during the awards ceremony in the cafeteria. Others also received certificates of recognition. Mrs. Hobbs gave each one a standing ovation.
