Brown, Clara (Mrs. Henry Newton)
5/8/1962
MRS. HENRY NEWTON BROWN
July 31, 1874-May 8, 1962
On May 8, 1962, Mrs. H. N. Brown passed away after an illness of eight days. Since July, 1943, when her husband died, she had made her home with her daughter Helen (Mrs. Eugene R. Martini) in Atlanta, Ga. With Helen’s husband Gene, and their children, Patricia (Pat), Claire, and Gene, Jr., she lived a full and active life, participating in church and W.S.C.S. activities until the last week of her life.
Clara Emily, daughter of Newton Corss and Eliza Ann (Secor) Crandall, was born in Hastings, Minnesota, on July 31, 1874. About 1930 the family moved to Rayne, Louisiana, where Mr. N. C. Crandall and his son Jesse acquired and operated a lumber yard. In 1900 Rev. Henry Newton Brown was appointed to his first pastorate—Rayne Methodist Church. His sister, Berta, later Mrs. Cammie Andrus of Branch, La., kept house for her brother and presided over the parsonage for four years. When Berta planned to be married, her brother made similar plans. On April 20, 1905, he and Clara Crandall, who by this time was the church organist, were married in Rayne; and their first pastorate together was Burgundy Church, New Orleans. Their thirty-eight years of service in the ministry included the following appointments: Texas Ave., Shreveport; West End, Alexandria; Morgan City; Lake Arthur; New Iberia; Arcadia; Parker Memorial, New Orleans; Baton Rouge District (Presiding Elder); Natchitoches; West Monroe; Lafayette; Ponchatoula; Pineville; and Lake Providence—all in Louisiana.
Mrs. Brown kept alive her many friendships by an extensive correspondence and by enthusiastic reading of the news, especially that contained in the Louisiana Methodist.
Mrs. Brown’s funeral was held in Atlanta on May 9 at Spring Hill, Dr. Warren Candler Budd, pastor of the Northside Methodist Church, officiating. As the eldest member of the church she was honored by loving respect from all. Mrs. Mignon Simson sang a beautiful solo: “Abide with Me.”
Mrs. Brown was taken to Rayne, where Rev. Fred A. Mead, assisted by Rev. William Matthews, conducted the grave-side service in the Rayne Protestant Cemetery, where Rev. H. N. Brown had been laid to rest in 1943. Their son, Crandall, who died in infancy, had been buried there also. The service was attended by the children of Rev. Robert Brown, those of Mrs. Berta Andrus, Mrs. Brown’s cousins of the Carver family, and many friends from Rayne and vicinity.
Source: Journal Louisiana Conference, 1962; p. 249 By J. W. Matthews
