Shirley Ann Brown

Shirley Ann (Sokach) Brown passed away June 10th, 2025 in her home in Fredericksburg, VA, leaving behind priceless memories with four surviving children, Susan (Rodney) Reed, Nancy Brown, Michael (Veronica) Brown, and Robert “Andy” (Sandra) Brown, 13 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren, and her aunt, Julia (Bralick) Pozwilka.

Shirley was born in South Bend, IN in St. Joseph County, on August 13th, 1935 into a proud, tightknit Hungarian community. As a child, Shirley was known to be vivacious and strong-minded, with many friends with whom she shared inside jokes and secret codes. She moved with her parents Louis Michael and Anna Rose (Bralick) Sokach to Texas where she spent her cherished middle childhood years amidst the beauty of the cotton fields before returning to South Bend. It was there she graduated from Greene High School in 1953 and was married in June 1955 to Robert “Bob” Dale Brown.

As an adult, Shirley was fashionable and poised. Her husband’s job meant she made homes in many places, including Charlotte, NC and Hot Springs, AR, before settling in Ashland, VA, where she and Bob finished raising their children, each of whom eventually raised their own nearby. It was in Ashland that Shirley bid a final farewell to her husband, when he left the world too early in 1990. She continued living in Ashland until 1998, when she moved for the final time to live with her eldest daughter’s family.

In her later years, Shirley was a private person of simple pleasures, trading her secret codes for puzzles, and her family’s farming for smaller personal gardens. She kept to her roots, growing her own tiny tight-knit family and personally providing essential love and support to her children and grandchildren.

In death, Shirley rejoins many of those dearest to her, having been preceded by her baby daughter, Ann Marie; her husband, Bob; and her closest, lifelong friends, her uncle Geza Bralick (d. 2025) and her cousin Carole (Vargo) Martin (d. 2017).

A graveside service will be held at Woodland Cemetery, 11310 Hanover Ave, Ashland, VA 23005 at 11:00 a.m. on June 19th, 2025.