Mary Irene Manning Brown

She gave us life and taught us how to love each other and care about other people. That alone would qualify as a life well-lived to many people. But this tough and loving Irish American woman was so much more than just that. To her children she was a teacher, doctor, nurse, cook, housekeeper, spirit guide, confidant, advisor, grandmother and all-round provider. But most of all she was our best friend, greatest fan and biggest supporter of the things we did. In our eyes she was our angel right here on earth.

She was also a wife who outlived her soul-mate husband of 56+ years, Robert S Brown Jr. She loved him and cared for him without complaining as he suffered many years with several ailments of old age. This God-loving woman, born in Newark, New Jersey in 1934, reflected God’s love in her interactions with her family, friends, church, community and strangers. Kindness was her most obvious treasure as she shared her energy, finances and ideas to brighten the lives of everyone she met. She made good friends and had good friends. She understood these connections were the most important things we can have in our lives. Her loyalty and devotion was demonstrated by the unconditional love she shared in her close relationships.

In her church communities, she served as a Cub Scout leader and as president of the Ladies Guild for many years at both St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Nutley, New Jersey and St. Mark Catholic Church in Wilmington, North Carolina. She and her husband were founding members of St. Mark Catholic Church where they also served in the excellent St. Mark Choir for more than 24 years. The choir had a special place in her heart. It was there that she felt closest to God and where she made some of her dearest friends. She served the church in many ways large and small. She was always ready to help with new projects.

She faced death with courage, grace and dignity and was finally taken from us on September 24, 2017 after a brave, two-year battle with multiple myeloma cancer. She left us with one last lesson: Learning how to live without her.

She was preceded in death by her husband Robert S. Brown Jr., her son, Mark Joseph Brown and her son-in law, Eugene Bryant. They have prepared a house for her in heaven and have called her home for a grand reunion. She holds the distinction of living longer than all the members of her family; an accomplishment we were all very happy that she achieved. The family that she has returned to includes her mother, Mary Kiernan Manning, her father, Walter Manning, and her two brothers, James and Walter Manning.

Death is harder on the living than the dead. Hurting the most on this day are her children: Kathleen Bryant, Robert S Brown 3rd and his wife Gabriela Brown, Patricia Sewell and her husband Frank Sewell and especially her grandchildren Mark Sewell, Jillian Sewell and her fiancé William Blanchard Jr.

We would like to thank the staff of the Lower Cape Fear Hospice Association for their guidance and assistance in managing our mother’s final days.

A funeral mass will be conducted on Thursday, September 28, 2017 at 10 am. at St. Mark Catholic Church, 1011 Eastwood Rd. Wilmington, NC 28403. Interment will follow at Oleander Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends from 6-8 pm on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at Andrews Mortuary & Crematory Valley Chapel, 4108 South College Road, Wilmington, NC.