Caralie Nelson Brown died Saturday, February 27, 2021, at her home in Raleigh, NC. Born on November 13, 1920, in Nelson, VA, Caralie was the daughter of Anderson Henry and Pearl Yeaman Nelson. Though her mother died when she was five, she was blessed with a second mother when her father married Nannie Bruce.
Caralie was educated in the elementary and high schools of South Boston, VA, where her family moved in 1927. Her undergraduate degree was from the State Teachers’ College at Farmville, VA (now Longwood University), while her graduate degrees were from the Woman’s Missionary Training School in Louisville, KY, and Duke University in Durham, NC.
Prior to her marriage to Raymond Bryan Brown in 1946, Caralie taught Latin and English in the high school in Halifax, VA, and at Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, VA. In Westhampton College of the University of Richmond, she was Director of Religious Activities.
After moving to Raleigh with her family in 1964, Caralie taught Latin and Social Studies at Enloe and then at Millbrook, where she retired in 1985. It was a special joy for her to become a weekly volunteer teacher of Latin and Mythology at Aldert Root Elementary School from September, 1985 until May, 2012.
In 1982 Caralie was the first woman chosen to be the chair of the diaconate of First Baptist Church in Raleigh and the moderator of the business conferences. In 1983 she volunteered with sixteen other members of First Baptist to found a mission in Northwest Raleigh that became Greystone Baptist Church where she served in various ministries and taught the Orientation Class for new members.
In recent years, Caralie referred to herself as a “cardiologist” because of her card writing ministry to those experiencing life’s joys and challenges.
Caralie was predeceased by the couple’s four-year-old son, Bryan in 1957 and by her husband who was Professor of New Testament at Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. at the time of his death in 1997, as well as her son in law, Steve Gaj, in 2019.
She is survived by two daughters, Nancye Gaj of Raleigh and Beanie Kelly of Richmond. Survivors also include four grandchildren: Jennifer Andrassy (Joey) of Raleigh, NC; Carter Gaj of Clayton, NC; Caran Kelly of Manassas, VA; and Paul Kelly (Keri) of Ashland, VA; as well as by five great-grandchildren, Caralie and Austin Andrassy and Chase, Brynn, and Cade Kelly.
Graveside service will be at Westhampton Memorial Park in Richmond on Saturday, March 27 at 12 noon. Masks and social distancing are required. A memorial service will be held at Greystone Baptist Church in Raleigh at a date to be determined later.
Memorial contributions may be made to Greystone Baptist Church, 7509 Lead Mine Rd, Raleigh, NC 27615.
Services provided in Raleigh by Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 Saint Mary's St., and in Richmond, VA by Affinity Funeral Service, 2720 Enterprise Parkway.
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Greystone Baptist Church7509 Lead Mine Rd. , Raleigh, NC 27615
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