Rev. Edward M. Brown, Iii

Reverend Edward Martin Brown, III, age 93, a United Church of Christ (UCC) minister, passed away on May 23, 2012. His deep faith inspired a lifetime of work for peace and justice on behalf of all people. His quiet efforts on behalf of racial reconciliation were consistent and often successful. Edward was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on January 30, 1919; he was raised there and in Switzerland. He graduated from Duke University in 1941 and Yale Divinity School in 1944. Survivors include his devoted wife, Rev. Joyce Myers-Brown; son and daughter-in-law Martin and Joan Brown, Cuba, NM; daughter Maria Brown of Baltimore, MD; son, Paul Aubin Brown, Atlanta, GA; grandchildren, Rachel Brown, St. David's, Grenada, W. Indies; George and Colleen Brown, Bloomfield, NM; Anna Brown, NM; great-grandchildren Dallas, Shawn, Caleb and Kari Brown; nieces, nephews, cousins and many friends. His parents, siblings, Jane and Bartow, and his first wife Freda Dick Brown preceded him in death. Rev. Brown had an internship in race relations at Fisk University under the auspices of the American Missionary Association. He moved to the University of Texas at Austin as Associate Secretary of the Student Christian Association. Ten years before the Montgomery bus boycott, he organized integrated rides on Austin's buses.After serving the rural Carrier Congregational Church in Oklahoma, Rev. Brown accepted a position as Youth Minister with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in France under the World Council of Churches. He returned to the southern US, monitored voter registration and worked with white pastors to prepare their congregations for the new era. Early on, Rev. Brown met future civil rights leaders including John Lewis and Andrew Young. Brown was one of three white people at the organizing meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, chaired by Rev. James Lawson and attended by Martin Luther King, Jr. Beginning in 1959, Rev. Brown served as the UCC's Southern Race Relations Coordinator, introducing church leaders to key figures like Ralph McGill of the Atlanta Constitution and Clarence Jordan of Koinonia Farms. He contributed to the unification of the UCC's white Southeast Convention with the African-American churches of the Congregational Christian Convention of the South. In 1970 Rev. Brown resigned his position as a UCC race-relations consultant. As a member of Atlanta's Central Congregational United Church of Christ, he chaired the Social Action Committee and helped organize activities between African-American and white UCC congregations. In 1988-89 he and his wife Joyce, under the auspices of the United Church Board for World Ministries, served as co-pastors in the Reformed Church of France. A memorial service will be held at Central Congregational United Church of Christ (2676 Clairmont Rd. NE, Atlanta, 30329) at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 3, 2012 with a graveside service at the Decatur Cemetery at 7 p.m.. Another service, for the Wesley Woods Towers community, will be on Wednesday, June 6, at 3 p.m. at 1825 Clifton Road NE. Memorial donations may be made in Rev. Brown's name to Central Congregational UCC.


Funeral Home:
A. S. Turner & Sons
2773 North Decatur Road
Decatur, GA
30033