Jeania Vae Brown was born to Eugene and Melda Vae Walker of Ozark, Arkansas, on October 12, 1946. Jeania grew up feeding chickens, milking cows, and being the oldest of four siblings. Jeania’s dad taught her to drive a tractor and bale hay long before she learned to drive a car, and a family friend down the road taught her to play the piano. Jeania attended Ozark public schools where she was an excellent student and often played piano accompaniment for fellow students in band competitions. Jeania attended the First Baptist Church of Ozark where she was active in ministry and played piano for Sunday services. In 1961, Jeania was selected by Ozark’s newspaper, The Spectator, for their first annual Americanism Award after her freshman year in high school. After graduation, Jeania attended college at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in medical technology.
As a child growing up in Ozark, Jeania and her siblings were taken to Sunday School at First Baptist by their mother where they learned about the Bible and God’s love for them. When Jeania was 10 years old, she attended Vacation Bible School at First Baptist, and it was during that week that she understood that Jesus had come to save her through His death and resurrection. She asked Jesus to forgive her, and she committed herself to follow Him all the days of her life – she never looked back.
During a visit back to Ozark while in college, Jeania played piano for a revival service at Ozark First Baptist where she persuaded a class friend of hers, Larry Brown, to come with her, and he came and also made the decision to commit his life to following Jesus. Their friendship grew into love, and they were married on December 27, 1969. After a honeymoon at Petit Jean State Park, Larry and Jeania lived in Memphis, Tennessee, while Larry finished his dental degree. During this time Jeania worked as a medical technologist at Methodist Hospital. After Larry’s graduation, the couple moved to Danville, Virginia, where Larry practiced dentistry and Jeania taught science in the Danville public school system. In these locations, Larry and Jeania were active in church and ministry, and they developed many friendships that survive to this day.
In 1972, Larry and Jeania moved back to Arkansas to be closer to family where they bought a dental practice in Mansfield. Jeania worked alongside Larry in the dental practice as dental assistant, receptionist, and office manager. Larry and Jeania attended the First Baptist Church of Mansfield where Jeania played the piano for services and taught children’s Sunday School, Children’s Church, and Discipleship Training classes. Jeania also led a ministry for widow ladies in the church, and she also served on the Sebastian County Library Board.
Larry and Jeania have two sons. Matthew was born in 1973 and Marcus in 1977. Jeania was always a very loving mother who would do anything for her children. On one occasion, at the urging of her sons, she even hiked with them up the side of Poteau Mountain and back down! Her parenting focus, however, was always on making sure that her sons attended church, knew God’s Word, and knew the importance of following Jesus like she did.
After Matthew and Marcus moved out of the house for college and families of their own, Larry and Jeania became very active in ministry and mission trips with Fellowship Baptist Church in Witcherville, Arkansas. Jeania taught Children’s Church on Sundays and helped in the church’s AWANA Bible program for kids on Wednesday nights. Larry and Jeania also participated in many mission trips and sports camps around the country and the world. Jeania’s driving passion was in telling kids about the love of Jesus and how they can know and follow Him – just as she learned as a 10 year old back in VBS in Ozark. Jeania told countless numbers of children about Jesus, and she cherished each opportunity to share His Good News and love with them. Just this past summer, Jeania had participated in four mission trip sports camps where many kids and teens heard about Jesus and committed their lives to Him.
Jeania’s life long desire was that each person she met would know that the Bible is true, that Jesus loves them, that we are all sinners in need of rescue, and that “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9), so that you also will have Heaven awaiting when your earthly body wears out. Our Lord granted Jeania the privilege of seeing hundreds of young people come to faith in Jesus over her lifetime. She had also just very recently talked with her youngest grandchild, Faith, who has also given her life to Jesus and is planning to be baptized in October.
Jeania moved to Heaven from her sleep at her home in the early morning of Tuesday, September 17, 2024, after having seen and talked with many friends and family during her brief hospital stay the weekend before. Jeania is preceded in death by her parents, Eugene and Melda Vae Walker; her brother, Russell Walker; her brother-in-law, Alfred Williams; and her aunts, uncles, and some cousins. Jeania is survived by her husband of 54 years, Larry Brown; her sons, Matthew Brown and his wife, Joyce, and Marcus Brown and his wife, Amy; her grandchildren, Elliana, Nathan, Sarah, Mikayla, Peter, Xander, and Faith; her sister, Jackie Hill, and Jackie’s husband, Bill, and their children, Mistie and Joshua; her sister, Mary Williams, and Mary’s husband, Paul; her brother Russell’s wife, Vonda Walker, and their children, Andrea, Bethany, Caleb, and Daniel; and many relatives on Larry’s side of the family.
Visitation will be held at Fellowship Baptist Church in Witcherville, Arkansas, at 1pm on Saturday, September 21, followed by the funeral service at the church at 2pm. Interment will be at Coop Prairie Cemetery in Mansfield, Arkansas, following the funeral service. Donations in Jeania’s memory can be made to the Lottie Moon Foreign Missions Offering through Fellowship Baptist Church.
Arrangements are under the direction of Martin Funeral & Cremation – Mansfield.
