Jo Morris Brown

Jo Morris Brown, 83, of Pine Bluff, died peacefully on Sunday, May 15, 2016 surrounded with love by her three sons, family and friends. Born Mamie Jo Morris in Cleveland, Mississippi on June 15, 1932, she was the daughter of Annette Thomas and Sanford V. Morris. An only child, she was raised in Cleveland, Mississippi where she met her lifetime sweetheart, Norwood Brown. She graduated as salutatorian from Cleveland High School and received a bachelor's degree from Delta State University and a master's degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. She married Norwood Verne Brown, Jr. on July 24, 1954 at the First Baptist Church in Cleveland. They spent the first years of their marriage in the United States Air Force and later settled in Memphis, where she worked as a medical technologist while Norwood attended dental school. In 1961, Jo and Norwood were blessed with the birth of their twin sons, Woody and Sandy, and three years later with the birth of their son, Chuck. Norwood and her boys were the light of her life. The Brown family settled in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1962 after Norwood finished dental school and his training as a children's dentist. She adopted Pine Bluff like a native and was steadfastly loyal to her community and the Land of the Razorbacks as her beloved home. She was a devoted wife and mother who enjoyed providing a safe and loving home for her family. Her greatest joy was supporting her husband and her athletic, energetic, and industrious boys in all of their many endeavors and raising a beautiful family. Her dogs, Babe and Precious, provided years of joy and comfort. Jo was equally devoted to her friends. She built and nurtured life-long relationships with so many friends (and children of friends) who were truly like family to her. She was an active member of First Presbyterian Church, involved with the Dental Auxiliary, Junior Sesame (past president), Junior League, the Pine Bluff Symphony Board and SE Arkansas Art & Science Center Board. No day was complete without calls and visits from friends – sometimes checking on her, sometimes her checking on them – but always friends at the center of her world. She was so thankful for the friends who supported her daily for 25 years after Norwood's death and for those who supported and helped her daily in her later years. Without her friends, her life would not have been as complete. Her family grew as each of her boys married and each had two children. She was close to her daughters-in-law and each of her grandchildren and remained active in their lives as "Grandmomma." She is survived by her sons Norwood Verne Brown, III (Woody) and his wife, Jennifer, and their children, Norwood Russell Brown (19) and Parker Thomas Brown (13) of Kansas City, Missouri; Sanford Morris Brown (Sandy) and his wife, Diane, and their children, Sarah Elizabeth Brown (24) and Joel William Brown (21) of Dallas, Texas; and Charles Bedwell Brown (Chuck) and his wife, Kathy, and their children, Brittany Jo Brown (23) and Norwood Ross Brown (21) of San Antonio, Texas. She was preceded in death by her husband of 38 years, Norwood Verne Brown Jr. We will treasure her memory in our hearts as a loving mother, Grandmomma, friend and as a steadfast woman who lived and died on her own terms. Funeral arrangements are coordinated by Ralph Robinson & Son Funeral Home (www.ralphrobinsonandson.com). Services will be held on Saturday, May 21, 2016: 11 a.m. – Graveside Service of Committal at Graceland Cemetery in Pine Bluff, 1 p.m. – Memorial Service at First Presbyterian Church of Pine Bluff, Ark. followed by a reception at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts are encouraged to a cancer charity or to First Presbyterian Church, 717 W. 32nd Avenue, Pine Bluff, Ark. 71603.