Willeta Sue Brown

Willeta A. “Sue” Brown



Mrs. William D. (Sue) Brown of Gainesville passed away on April 3, 2010 at the Renaissance Care Center at the age of 90.

A resident of Gainesville, Mrs. Brown was born January 31, 1920 in Grand Prairie, Texas. She was the daughter of W. A. “Bill” Robertson and Oleta Cox Robertson. As a teenager, Sue was a member of a choir chosen from area high schools to participate in the Texas Centennial Celebration at Fair Park in Dallas in 1936. She was a 1937 graduate of Grand Prairie High School. Mrs. Brown attended North Texas Agricultural College, what is now The University of Texas at Arlington, in 1938 and 1939.

Sue began a lifelong career in funeral service in the early 1940s, being employed at the firm of her aunt and uncle, the L.O. Turner Funeral Home in Grand Prairie. In 1948, Sue met William D. (Bill) Brown, a young funeral director from Gainesville who had joined the firm. They were married on January 20, 1949 at the First Methodist Church of Grand Prairie. The young couple spent their first years of marriage employed at the George Brewer Funeral Home of Dallas. Sue and Bill returned to Grand Prairie in 1953. After several years of employment with the Hugh M. Moore Funeral Homes in Arlington and Fort Worth, the Browns purchased the Moore’s funeral operation in Grand Prairie, which became the Moore-Brown Funeral Home in 1961. In 1972, long time friends, Gwynne C. and his wife JoAnn Pike became partners with Mr. and Mrs. Brown. The funeral home then became the Brown-Pike Funeral Home.

In 1968, Mrs. Brown was one of the founding members of The Woman’s Club of Grand Prairie, serving as the club’s president in 1972. She was instrumental in establishing the Grand Prairie Community Concerts and was actively involved in producing the “Miss Grand Prairie Pageant” for a number of years.

Mrs. Brown and her family purchased the Geo. J. Carroll & Son Funeral home in Gainesville, Texas from the Carroll family in 1975. They continued to operate their Grand Prairie funeral home until its sale in 1979. Gainesville became their home. A lifelong Methodist, Mrs. Brown and her family moved their church membership to the First United Methodist Church of Gainesville in 1980, where she remained an active and faithful member as long as her health allowed.

A loving wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, Sue Brown will be dearly missed.

We offer a special thanks to the staff of the Renaissance Care Center in Gainesville, Texas for their loving support of Sue and for the special care they have extended during the past several years.

Funeral services for Sue Brown are set for 2:00 PM, Monday, April 5, 2010, at the Geo. J. Carroll & Son Funeral Home Chapel with the Reverend Don Yeager officiating. A private burial will follow at Fairview Cemetery.

A visitation will be held Monday, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM at the funeral home before the funeral.

You may sign the online registry at www.geojcarroll.com.



Survived by:

Son and daughter-in-law: Robin & Cathy Brown of Gainesville, Texas

Granddaughter and husband: Kendal & Murrell Balda of Savannah, Texas

Grandson: Blair Brown of Gainesville, Texas

Great Grandson: Brody Alexander Balda of Savannah, Texas

Numerous Cousins including: Lillie Ruth Couch of Arlington, Texas

Proceeded in death by her parents and her husband of 47 years, Bill Brown in 1996.

Memorials: First United Methodist Church of Gainesville Sanctuary Restoration Project