Carolyn (Brady) Downing

She was the baby of 11. Siblings, Johnnie Bachus (deceased), Mary Jane Bourland (deceased), Donald Brady (deceased), Doyle Brady (deceased), Dorothy Turner, Bonnie Carpenter (deceased), Mavis Lowery (deceased), Arvil Brady, Faye Daniel, and Terry Brady (deceased).

Carolyn graduated from Manila High School, Manila, Arkansas, in 1965. She married Harry Dennis Downing on August 20, 1965 after dating him for five years. They were married for 54 years and 4.5 months. While her husband attended undergraduate school at Arkansas State University she worked as a department secretary at the university then later attended a nursing program where she obtained a license as an LPN (licensed practical nurse, sometimes called a license vocational nurse). She then had a wonderful 35 year career in nursing with about 33 years as an office nurse. She was nurse Carolyn in the local office of Dr. Aaron Polk, serving just over 26 years with him. She is remembered as a very caring nurse who sympathized with her patients. She had hugs for all of them and “Snoopy” band aides for the kids. She loved babies.

In 1994 she had a stroke that slowly but surely led to dementia that eventually forced her to retire from a great career in nursing in 2006. Over the next 13 years the brain damage steadily worsened and culminated in her death on January 6, 2020. She bravely battled this disease until her body could just fight it no longer.

She and Harry D. (as she called her husband) had no children. She is survived by three siblings, Arvil Brady of Wauconda, Illinois, Dorothy Turner of Orlando, Florida, and Faye Daniel of Southhaven, Mississippi, and several nieces and nephews, too numerous to list. Two particular though are Donnita Morris, Pocahontas, Arkansas and Kathy Smith, Mountain Home, Arkansas.

She was a Baptist by faith since her teen years. To those that knew her, she was a joy to be around and had a big caring heart especially for her patients. She was Harry D.’s soulmate for almost 60 years.

The family would like to extend a special thanks to her caregiver of four years, Sandra Pennywell.

Funeral services will be held, 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 9, 2020, Cason Monk-Metcalf Sunset Chapel. Friends and family are invited to a visitation from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 8, 2020, at Cason Monk-Metcalf, located at 5400 North Street in Nacogdoches.

Additional funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, January 11, 2020, at Howard Funeral Service in Manila, Arkansas, with visitation from 1:00 until service time. Burial will follow at Manila Cemetery with the following pallbearers: Don Daniel, Shane Frost, Brady Morris, Hunter Morris, Kevin Rose, and Ali Piran.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the SFASU Foundation for the Carolyn and Harry Downing Nursing Scholarship, P. O. Box 6092, SFA Station, Nacogdoches, Texas 75962-6092.

Arrangements are under the direction of Cason Monk-Metcalf Funeral Directors, Nacogdoches, Texas.