Birth Date: 12/07/1931
Deceased Date: 01/21/2022
Rose Mae Holland Brown passed away Friday, January 21st, 2022, surrounded by her loving family. A memorial service will be held at Centenary United Methodist Church in Smithfield, North Carolina to honor her life on Wednesday, January 26th at 11:00am. Her family will have a private family graveside burial after the service.
Rose was born on December 7th, 1931. She recently enjoyed celebrating her 90th trip around the sun with family and friends. She was raised in Smithfield North Carolina and after graduating from Smithfield High School she attended Greensboro College where she obtained a B.A. degree in Biology and minor in Zoology. She spent the next 13 years in a career as a research scientist in biochemistry at Duke University. She taught Laboratory courses on oxidative phosphorylation in the Duke Medical School for 4 years. While working there, she collaborated with medical physicians publishing many informative articles on the synthesis of polyphosphates in mitochondria and on the oxidation and activation of unsaturated fatty acids.
She then attended North Carolina State University where she graduated with a master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling. Her career as a Guidance counselor was spent in two North Carolina counties and spanned 43 years from 1967-2010. Her circle of influence during that time is immeasurable spanning far and wide with a legacy of countless people whose futures were born in her office. Her ability to meet students where they were, leverage their academic prowess and talents, and match them with colleges where they would start their own lives and families was unmatched. Her unwavering advocacy for each of her students and their families offered them opportunities to live out their own dreams. While serving in Johnston County she helped to establish a Lifelong Learning Scholarship program (L3) that created partnerships with businesses and schools who funded candidates to participate in their educational programs. She received the Living Legend Award from Johnston County Public Schools in August 2009. She was inducted into The East Carolina University’s Educators Hall of Fame. Rose published a book in 2017 entitled On Fragile Wings giving insight into universal issues facing young people as they approach adulthood. This book gives voice to her journey as a guide for these students as they navigated the often-difficult road of life during a volatile time in our history.
After retirement Rose continued to enjoy being an avid tennis player and Master of the Bridge table. She savored every second she spent with her friends and never missed a chance to celebrate. Her family was her greatest pleasure, and she remains at the heart of every tradition that is held dear to each one of them. Her soul, her mind, and her heart brought beauty, love, and vision to all that knew her.
Rose was preceded in death by her mother, Grace Ansley Crow Holland and her father Walter Andrew “Dutch” Holland, and her husband Alvin D. Brown. She is survived by her sister, Elizabeth (Lib) Holland Sheppard, brother, Walter Andrew Holland, (wife, Susan Wiles Holland). Her daughter(s); Anslie Holland Brown Johnson, (husband, Charles Lofton Johnson), and Kellie Lois Brown Youngblood, (husband, Dwight Benjamin Youngblood, Jr.). She has four grandchildren; Charles Lofton Johnson Jr., (wife, Katherine McLeod Johnson), Andrew Brown Johnson, (wife, Janelle Rockett Johnson), David Parker Wilson Jr., (wife, Natalie Rae Wilson), and Mary Holland Rose Wilson, (fiancé, Les Overton Ellis). She is also survived by her beautiful, great- granddaughter, Lillian Katherine Johnson.
Rose is remembered with love by her nieces and nephews; Frank Broadhurst Layne, (wife Janice Loeffler Layne), Ashley Layne Smith, (husband, David Wesley Smith), Perry Wiles Holland, (wife, Sarah Lang Holland), Ansley Katherine Holland Stroud, (husband, Thomas Stroud), and Mary Grace Holland Marlow, (husband, Jason W. Marlow), and her 11 great- nieces and nephews.
“She was beautiful, for the way she thought. She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved. She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Centenary United Methodist Church, 140 East Market Street, Smithfield, North Carolina 27577 or SECU Hospice House of Johnston Health, 426 Hospital Road, Smithfield, North Carolina 27577.
Arrangements by Parrish Funeral Home.
