Esther Brown

Esther Ruth Brown (Gruber) 1930-2025, was born in Boston, MA and died in Peabody, MA. She died just before her 95th birthday and lived a life of incredible optimism and joy in spite of many untimely losses.

She was married to her first husband Saul Bearak in 1952. They had twin sons, Arnold and Joel, in 1954. Saul passed in 1960 from a brain tumor. In 1964, she married her second husband Kenneth Brown. They created a home in Peabody, MA and raised her sons Arnold and Joel there, then moving to Marblehead in the mid 1980s. They were married 30 years. In her later years, she moved to Brooksby Village in Peabody to an independent living apartment, and then more recently to an assisted living apartment at Brooksby.

Esther worked at many positions as a secretary, receptionist, and bookkeeper. She loved to travel, and went on many trips including China, Japan, Israel, and many countries in Europe, both with Ken and also with her sister-in-law Evelyn and other Marblehead friends. She loved to read and attended numerous plays and concerts. And in the end, she loved her word finder puzzle books, often finishing a whole book in a day.

She made friends wherever she went, and her warmth and good advice helped many people, and was especially appreciated by her stepsons Richard and Larry when they were teens.

She gave generously to many charities but was most passionate about the National Neurofibromatosis Foundation (now known as the Children’s Tumor Foundation) as NF was the disease that took both her husband Saul and her son Joel.

She was predeceased by her father Aaron Gruber and her mother Alice Gruber, and her first husband Saul Bearak, her second husband Kenneth Brown, her son Joel Bearak, her brother Joseph Gruber and her sister-in-law Helen, her brother Jack Gruber and her sister-in-law Evelyn, her grandson Jordan Bearak and her stepson Larry Brown.

She is lovingly remembered by her son Arnie Bearak and his wife Adena, her stepson Richard Brown and his wife Thu An, her grandson Jason Brown, her niece Andrea Gruber and her husband Ed Broadwin, her niece Cheryl Parker and her husband Mitchell, her nephew Alan Gruber and his wife Kathy, her niece Laura Thompson and her partner Jim, her niece Linda Musser and her husband Rod, her nephew Andrew Gruber and his wife Brenda, her niece Holly Gruber and her husband Rich Ulkus, her nephew Daniel Gruber and his wife Tracy Grandstaff, her nephew Joseph Bearak and his wife Sandy Rose, her niece Barbara Bearak and her husband Henri Pelletier, her nephew Steven Bearak and his wife Michelle, and her nieces Lisa Shuman and Judy Leary.

She is also remembered fondly by many friends and neighbors from years of living in Roxbury, Peabody, Marblehead, and finally at Brooksby Village, and many grand nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Children’s Tumor Foundation or Plugged in Band Needham, a charity chosen in memory of her grandson Jordan Bearak.

Services will be held at Stanestsky’s Chapel, 10 Vinnin St., Salem, MA at 11:00 am Weds. May 21.

It will be followed by burial at Maple Hill Cemetery, 98 Canterbury Drive Peabody, MA 01960.

Shiva will be held at the Bearak home, 26 Hoover Rd., Needham, on Wednesday, from 6:00 PM - 8:00PM, Thursday from 1:00 - 4:00 and 6:00 - 8:00 and on Friday from 2:00 - 5:00. Minyan on Thurs. at 7:00 pm.