Ella Frances Halsey Brown passed peacefully on July 20, 2014, at the age of 89.
Ella Frances was born on June 15, 1925, in Tuscumbia, and graduated from Deshler High School. She attended Huntington College and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in social work. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Ella Frances married Louie Lee Brown on September 18, 1948, in Tuscumbia. They settled in Decatur and remained there for their 52 years of marriage. When her youngest of four children started school, she returned to social work in Morgan County and served there for over 20 years. During that time she received a master’s degree in social work from the University of Alabama. She enjoyed boating on the Tennessee River in her later years, but her greatest joys came from being a mother to her four children and a grandmother to her seven grandchildren.
She was a member of Central Baptist Church where she helped to organize the first program for special needs children and served as a Sunday school teacher in that program for over 40 years. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the Hunt’s Spring Chapter in Huntsville.
Ella Frances is predeceased by her father, William Stephenson Halsey and mother, Ruth Powell Halsey; her husband, Louie Lee Brown; her son, Arthur Thornton Brown; and her brother, William Stephenson Halsey Jr.
She is survived by her children, Lucy Brown Glover (Paul), Nina Ruth Brown, Hayes DeCaley Brown (Carrie) and her daughter-in-law, Phyllis Arney Brown. Her grandchildren are Meredith Lee Sasso (Michael), Lucy Katherine Barrios, Ruth Ann Brown Graham (David), Claire Frances Brown, Nina Carolyn Brown, Laurel Elizabeth Brown and Arthur Thornton Brown. She is also survived by her nieces and nephews, Glen Clark Brown (Kay), Ethel Brown Shariett (Allen), Caron Halsey Hess and William Stephenson Halsey III (Beth).
She will be buried alongside her husband at Decatur City Cemetery. The family will receive friends at Ridout’s Brown-Service Funeral Home in Decatur on Thursday, July 24, 2014, at 10 a.m. The funeral service will be at 11 a.m. with burial immediately after.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to Central Baptist Church, 2801 U.S. 31, Decatur, AL 35603.
