Mary Louise Brown

Mary Louise Wilkinson Brown, 79, of Dayton passed away peacefully on Monday, January 19, 2015 at home.

Services will be 2:00 p.m., Saturday, January 24, 2015 at First Baptist Church in Dayton, Texas with Rev. Ken Davis officiating. Interment will follow at Magnolia Park Cemetery, Dayton. Visitation for Mary will be 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., Friday evening at Pace-Stancil Funeral Home in Dayton.

Mrs. Brown was born December 12, 1935 in Anderson, South Carolina to parents Major Harry John Wilkinson and Jimmie Louise Dodd Wilkinson of Clemson, S.C.. She was a graduate of Clemson High School and attended Clemson State College, Winthrop College and Lee College. Mary was an executive secretary for Eli Lilly & Company, a paralegal, a secretary for Judge Boots Krueger and held a realtors license but spent most of her life helping the family farm operation as secretary.

Mary and her husband Gene began farming in Dayton with Elmer and Maebeth Pruitt in 1963. Soon after they began farming with three of Gene's brothers, farming rice, soybeans, san augustine grass, milo and other crops in the Dayton area as Brown Brothers Farms. The farm also owned and operated 3 grain elevators in Beaumont, Nome and Dayton. Gene and Mary also raised cattle and 5 children.
Mary was an avid fisherman, even fishing in Bass N Gals tournaments in Arkansas, Texas and La. She instilled a love and appreciation for animals and nature in all of her children. She was a member of the First Baptist Church, the Bassn Gals Association, Eastern Star, the Pilot Club, Texas Farm Bureau, and Texas Cattle Raisers Association.

Mary Brown was preceded in death by her parents of Clemson, SC and her brother Harry Wilkinson of Pendleton, SC and her daughter-in-law Brenda Brown. She is survived by her husband of 52 years, Gene Arnold Brown of Dayton; her children, Donnie Lloyd Brown of Dayton, Wade Brown of Tarkington Prairie, Jerry Brown and wife Lorraine of Dayton, Mary Catherine Wilson and husband Ralph of Dayton, Gena Hanagriff and husband Roger of Huntsville; grandchildren, Brett Brown, Brent Brown, Rhett Wilson, Audrey Brown, Boyd Hanagriff and Samuel Hanagriff; great-grandchildren, Logan, Tyler, and Brynlee; sisters-in-law, Betty Brown of Dayton, Waltraut (Margie) Brown of Austin and Nancy Wilkinson of Pendleton, SC; also numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives, and a host of friends.