Adele Lee Brown

Adele Lee Brown, 90, passed away peacefully at her home on Saturday, February 21, 2015. She was born December 14, 1924 in Johnston County, NC. Adele was the daughter of the late Wade and Annie Creech Lee.

She attended Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College) in Wilson, NC. While she was a student at Atlantic Christian, Adele was selected as May Queen her senior year.

She began her forty plus years as an elementary school teacher at the age of 19. She was an outstanding educator and touched the lives of many students who have become great citizens and leaders in our state. The year after she retired from Aldert Root Elementary School in Raleigh, the PTA named a garden at the school in her honor. Adele continued to be interested in her students’ lives and kept up with many of them through her beautiful letter writing. She loved being an elementary school teacher and influenced several of her students to go into the teaching profession which was much more than a job to her.

She is survived by her daughter, Jeanie Brown McCandless and husband, Ken and granddaughter, Allison McCandless all of Charlotte; grandson, Tommy McCandless and fiancé, Lindsey Tighe of Alexandria, VA.; sister, Peggy Lee Wilder and husband Barna; brother-in-law, James Upchurch; sister-in-law, Janis Hinton Lee all of Zebulon; brother-in-law, Doug Brown of Bailey; sisters-in-law Doris Brown of Rocky Mount, LaVerne Brown of Raleigh, and Annaleen Brown of Bailey, in addition to numerous nieces and nephews.

Adele was preceded in death by her devoted husband of 59 years, B.W. Brown; her sisters, Erdine Lee Vann (Talmadge), Magdalene Lee Upchurch, and brother, James Lee of Zebulon; her beloved mother and father-in-law, Arthur and Ruby Brown of Bailey; sisters-in-law Mary Rose Brown Tilley (Felton), Marjorie Brown Finch (Willard); brothers-in-law, Charles Brown (Janice), William Louis Brown, James Brown and Frank Brown.

Adele attended the First Baptist Church of Raleigh since 1958 and was active in her Sunday School class. We would especially like to thank her loving neighbors Jeff and Marcy Hobart and their children Leigh and Keller for their kindness through the years. One of her many blessings in life was having a great niece Josephine Adele Wilder and a great great niece, Magdalene Adele Weigent Strickland who were both named for her.

A celebration of life service will be held at 11:30 A.M., Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 St. Mary’s Street, Raleigh. A visitation will follow the service at the funeral home. Burial will be private.

Should you wish to honor Adele's memory, in lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to First Baptist Church, 99 North Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27601, the charity of one's choice, or you can honor Adele by reading a good book.

Condolences may be made through brownwynne.com.