Ilene Brown

Ilene Brown

1925-2015

Services for Ilene Ray Brown, 90, of Canton were held on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015 at Eubank Funeral Home Chapel.  Bro Jim Leach officiated the service.  

 Burial was at Haven of Memories, Canton.

Mrs. Brown passed away July 30, 2015, at Hospice of East Texas in Tyler.

Mrs. Brown was born July 2, 1925, to Robert Lee Ray and Edith Beatrice Leach Ray of Wallace Community.  After graduating from Canton High School in 1941, she attended Westminster College and was salutatorian of her class.  She then went to Mary Hardin Baylor and received a degree in elementary education.

Her teaching career, which spanned 33 years, began in small rural schools during World War II.  After graduating from college, she began teaching fifth grade in Seagoville. 

When she and her husband Doug moved back to Wallace in 1960, Mrs. Brown first taught at Ben Wheeler and then Canton.  She especially loved first graders and cherished the years she spent teaching them.  She often said that first graders were loving and eager to learn.   She took pride in watching them as they began to read and write.  Although she never had children of her own, Mrs. Brown would tell anyone that she had helped raise hundreds of children.

Mrs. Brown was married to Doug for 66 years until his death in 2010. They wed during World War II when Doug was a 19 year old sailor and Ilene was an 18 year old teacher.  During most of their marriage, they lived in Wallace.  They were long time members of Wallace Methodist Church.   Through her volunteer work in the church and community, Mrs. Brown was always thinking of others.  Many hours were spent sending cards, baking and carrying food, and helping with whatever needed to be done in the church.  She and Doug were also involved in Alcoholics Anonymous for 36 years.  They founded two AA chapters in Van Zandt County, with Ilene being instrumental in leading the Al-Anon group.

When she was 86 years old, Mrs. Brown felt called to write a book about her and Doug’s life.  It took her two years to complete the project.  Her book, “A World War II Story of Love and Survival,” was published in 2014.  It gave her great pleasure to give copies of the book to family and friends.

Mrs. Brown is preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her brother, the Rev. Edwin Ray and two sisters, Sue Ray Nixon and Janell Ray Walter.

Survivors include sisters, Marjorie Dove and husband, Doyle of Colfax and Gwen Reaves of Athens and sister-in-law Jean Ray of Canton; and many nieces and nephews.

Her nephews served as pallbearers.