Etna (Champion) Brown

Alvord ~ Etna Champion Brown, 96, entered eternity Saturday, May 3, 2014 in Brownwood, TX, after a long illness.

Funeral service is 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the First Baptist Church in Alvord with burial in Alvord Cemetery. Pastor Bill Cleveland will be officiating. Family will receive friends from 6 - 8 p.m. Tuesday at Coker-Hawkins Funeral Home in Decatur.

Pallbearers include Luke Culwell, Wade Brown, Jases Brown, Douglas Boswell, Josh Reich, and Caleb Reich.

Etna Theo was born at home near Alvord to Charles Roy and Grace Elnora (Sims) Champion on March 8, 1918. She was named by her grandfather, Charley Champion after his two favorite aunts. Etna grew up on the farm in the Elm Community during the Great Depression. The family worked hard, enjoyed visiting, and going to gospel singings. The Depression taught her to be content and live a simple, frugal life. In 1929, Etna received Christ as her Savior after reading a little book of John her Sunday School teacher had given her. She was baptized in the Alvord Baptist Church. Her faith sustained her throughout her life. Etna graduated Alvord High School in 1935 and went on to John Tarleton Junior College for one year majoring in Home Economics. She later worked as a receptionist, in retail, and as a nurse's aide, but her life's work was as a homemaker. Her greatest joy was cooking and setting a beautiful table for her family. In her later years, Etna played dominoes, kept her yard, sang in the church choir and at local nursing homes. She lived at home until age 92 with the help of her son, Royce, and daughter-in-law, JoEllen, until she moved to Songbird Lodge in Brownwood.

Left behind to cherish her memory is her daughter, Gayle Reich and husband John Wayne of Blanket, Texas; 3 sons, Freddie Ross and wife Nancy of Sun City, Arizona, Roger Wilson and wife Kris of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and Royce Brown and wife JoEllen of Alvord; 13 grandchildren, Marc Ross, Becky Ross, Luke Culwell and wife Paige, Stacy Loftin and husband Dustin, Kalie Reich, Josh Reich and wife Mary Ruth, Caleb Reich, Wade Brown and wife Andrea, Jases Brown and wife Stacey, Katrina Amato and husband Ryan, Elizabeth Thompson, Douglas Boswell, and Tiffany Brown; 20 great grandchildren; numerous cousins and host of friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, and a brother, C.W. Champion.

Memorials may be made to the First Baptist Church of Alvord Building Fund.