Mary Marcella Brown
09/22/1933 - 03/12/2023
Bell City, Missouri
| Visitation: | none |
| Service: | 03/18/2023 |
Mary Marcella Hasty Brown, was born September 22, 1933 to Herman Elzie Hasty and Fannie Catherine Fitzgerald Hasty in Reynolds County, Missouri on the Hasty Farm known as her great grandfather David Hastys farm. Mary Marcella was the 7th child born to Elzie and Fannie Hasty.
Brothers and sisters, all deceased: Ettel, Roy, Carl, Herbert, Russell (Bob), Donald, Harold, Beulah, Rhoda, and Betty.
Mary Marcella was six months old when the family moved to Southeast Missouri to grow cotton. Two years later the family moved near Clines Island. One vivid memory of that timeframe was the outhouse had one small board to sit near the front, and Mary Marcella recalls she almost fell in. Beulah, her oldest sister, got her out of there. The Condict family lived a short distance south of the Hasty family and she recalls visiting them by herself when she was 3 or 4 years old, crossing a ditch via a plank across the ditch. These were her first recollections of living in Southeast Missouri.
In 1937/38, the family moved to the Himmel-Shawan communities. Mary Marcella went to school at Himmel, then later to Bell City where she graduated in 1952.
She married Joseph Rust Brown on March 7th, 1953, in the Garden Ridge General Baptist Church in the Shawan community located off of Route Y, southeast of Bell City, Missouri. They were married 61 years. Joseph Rust Brown preceded her in death on November 7th, 2014. Four children were born, all living. Catherine Louise Katie Brown Beseda, Joseph Eugene Brown, Melody Ruth Brown Trout, and Martha Elizabeth Brown Garuccio.
Mary Marcella was a member of the Bell City General Baptist church for 20 years. She taught Sunday School there in earlier years. She was also a member of the Bell City Community Betterment organization. She played a steady and integral role in getting the building built and paid for by the work of all of the members who for many years held a fish fry dinner which was enjoyed by the local community and many others from all over the southeast Missouri area.
Mary Marcella leaves 4 grandsons, and 2 great-granddaughters. She will be cremated and her ashes will be buried in the Gravel Hill Cemetery alongside her husband, Joseph Rust Brown. Morgan Funeral Home in Advance is in charge of the arrangements. Per her wishes a small memorial service will be held for family members only.
In lieu of flowers, the family of Mary Marcella Brown has requested to make a donation in her name to the Stoddard County Childrens Home Hardy House or the Advance United Methodist Church Food Pantry.
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