Catherine Diggle Brown

Catherine Diggle Brown, 84, of Charlotte, died peacefully March 4, 2001, at Greenville Memorial Medical Center, following a period of declining health. She was attended by her children.

Mrs. Brown was born April 24,1916, in Charlotte, daughter of Samuel Lewis and Mary Louise Cobb Diggle of Central Avenue. She attended Central High School in Charlotte, and graduated from Sacred Heart College in Belmont, N.C.

In 1942, she was accepted into the Women's Army Auxiliary Forces. She was the 42nd woman from North Carolina to be allowed to enlist in the Army in World War II. She was promoted twice, and was commanding a training company in Ft. Des Moines, Iowa, where she was honorably discharged following a service related disability, at the rank of Captain. She was a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Disabled American Veterans. After World War II, Miss Diggle married James A. Brown Jr., who served from 1950 to 1962 as Assistant Administrator of Greenville General Hospital, and from 1962 to 1970 as Administrator of Gaston Memorial Hospital.

Mrs. Brown is survived by their three children, James Arthur Brown III of Cary, N.C., George Conril Brown of Washington, D.C., and Catherine Elizabeth Holmgreen of Greenville; three grandchildren, Amanda Leigh, David Joseph and Elizabeth Styron Gault; a brother, Samuel Lewis Diggle Jr. of Charlotte; and sisters, Mrs. Carl Lowery of Charlotte, and Mrs. Carl Duncan of Indian Rocks Beach, Fla.

Mrs. Brown was a member of St. Vincent dePaul Catholic Church in Charlotte.

A visitation from 6 to 7 p.m. followed by a Rosary will be held Thursday, March 8, 2001, at Harry and Bryant in Charlotte. Mrs. Brown will be buried with her late husband in Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington, N.C. Memorials may be made to Holy Angels in Belmont, N.C.