Maria Sorin Brown of Franklin, TN passed on to heaven on May 16th, 2023. She was 97 years old. A WW II bride and native of Plestan, France, she met her husband of 63 years while serving as a Red Cross Nurse during the War. In 1948, she boarded a military ship with her son (Jo Jo) and sailed to New York City. From there, they boarded a train to Nashville / Franklin where she resided since 1948.
Maria was preceded in death by her husband – George Ernest Brown, son – Georges C. Brown (Barbara), daughter – Yvonne Lawrence (Mike), and grandson – Justin Lawrence. The fourth of five siblings (Lucy, Therese, Yvonne and Germaine), she is survived by her grandchildren – Chris Brown (Angela), Jeff Brown (Tonya), Adam Lawrence, and Alicia Lawrence Thomas (BJ). Great grandchildren – Christopher, Alexandra, Austyn, Sterling, Beau, Mackenzie, Maggie, Brooks, Levi, Ashlynn, Michael and Everly, along with several nieces, nephews and cousins in France.
Despite being apart from her French family, her nephew Jean Michel Briens and his wife Caroline have visited often and helped to maintain the special bond between the US and French families.
Although Maria enjoyed working at Lasko for 17 years and also being the personal assistant for Mr. & Mrs. Harlin (Harlinsdale Farms), the joy of her life was being a wife, mother, grandmother, and homemaker. Whether it was pork chops, spaghetti, chess pie, banana pudding, lemon Bundt cake, or one of her many French inspired casseroles, no one left her house disappointed. There was something for everyone young and old to enjoy. Her house was always as neat at the proverbial pin and her yard was full of spectacular color in the spring, summer, and fall – with seemingly little effort.
Today, when most people speak of the “old hospital” they are referring to the county office building on West Main. When Maria referred to the “old hospital” she was referring to the Dan German building at 4th and Church streets. It was here that she had surgery after a car accident and also gave birth to her beautiful daughter in 1956. And, if anyone in the Brown household needed to see the doctor, Dr. Guffey would happily make a house call on horseback.
Closed casket visitation will be Thursday, May 18th from 12:00 to 2:00 pm at Williamson Memorial Gardens. Maria didn’t believe in standing around someone’s casket talking about how wonderful they looked. She wanted to be remembered by how she looked when she was living. She was only half joking. Visitation will be followed by a graveside service at 2:00pm, officiated by Nate Shurden and Ethan Vroom, of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Franklin.
