DORIS L. BROWNSON

Doris L. Brownson, 98, of Owensboro, KY and formerly of Leavenworth, KS, passed away on Sunday, June 28, 2015 at Hermitage Care and Rehabilitation in Owensboro. She was born near Norton, KS to Ray and Ethel Bull Swartz on Oct. 24, 1916; she was adopted by her uncle and aunt, Rollin and Floy Gifford Buell, following the deaths of her parents when she was a young child.  

Brownson was an elementary and high school teacher and community volunteer. She was a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, with a degree in vocational home economics. Following college she worked for the Agriculture Extension Service teaching families to preserve products from their WW II victory gardens. She then taught high school home economics before pursuing graduate work in early childhood education at the University of Texas El Paso and Marshall University. She also taught first through third grades in Texas and eastern Kentucky. 

She was a long term member of First United Methodist Church in Leavenworth.  An avid letter writer, Brownson was known for her card ministry, remembering family and friends on all of their special occasions. Until she moved to Kentucky in 2011 to be nearer her sons’ families, she was an active member of United Methodist Women in Leavenworth, The Daughters of the American Revolution, the PEO Sisterhood, the Retired Teachers Association, the Federal Prison Retirees Association and she served on the board of the Special Needs Advocacy Program.  

In addition to being a loving and devoted mother and wife, she enjoyed volunteering, reading, cooking, walking, recycling, couponing and travelling to many places around the world with her husband of over 60 years, Robert E. Brownson, who preceded her in death in 2002.

Brownson was also preceded in death by her daughter, Rebecca Brownson, as well as by her natural and adoptive parents, a brother Rollin Swartz, and sister, Waneta Moors, as well as adoptive siblings Richard Buell, Mildred Harding and Roberta Roeder.  

She is survived by two sons, Rollin (Mary Ann) Brownson, of Morristown, TN and Terry (Patti) Brownson, of Owensboro; four grandchildren, Todd Brownson, of Catlettsburg, KY, Melissa Brownson, of Frankfort, KY, Carey Ann Ratcliff, of Gallatin, TN and Cassie Grieb, of Nashville, TN; three great grandchildren, Noah Jarnigan and Jack Ratcliff of Gallatin, and Charlotte Grieb, of Nashville; nieces and nephews.

A graveside service was held Friday, July 3, 2015 at Prairie Union Cemetery in Shubert, with Rev. Carolynn Winters-Hazelton officiating. The family received friends prior to the procession at Dorr and Clark Funeral Home, of Falls City. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made in Doris Brownson’s memory to First United Methodist Church, Leavenworth, or to the charity of the donor’s choice.

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