George Cllitherall Stradley Browning McFarland

1933 - 2014

George C. Stradley Browning McFarland

Merritt Island, FL

George Clitherall Stradley Browning McFarland, born April 2, 1933 in Asheville, NC to Leslie Atkins Stradley and Florence Milner Birch Stradley, died December 4, 2014.  She went to school in Asheville, earned a B.A. in English Literature from Woman's College (now UNC-Greensboro) and a Master's Degree in Library Science from UNC-Chapel Hill. She married C.R. Browning in 1954 and they moved to Brevard County, FL in 1958.  They were divorced, and she later married Thomas Alan McFarland in 1974. 

She worked as Medical Librarian at Wuesthoff Hospital, head of the Reference Department at Cocoa Public Library, and from 1979 until retirement in 1998 as Director of the Brevard County Law Library.  She was very active at St. Mark's Church in Cocoa as Sunday School Superintendent and then at St. Luke's in Merritt  Island, where among other things, she was a layreader. She also volunteered at the Florida Historical Society in Cocoa.

She is survived by her loving husband of 40 years, Tom; sons L. Vance Browning (Gabrielle) of Orlando, FL, and Birch Patterson Browning (Stephanie) of Cleveland Heights, OH; grandchildren, Alicia Caler Browning of Orlando, and Sarah Weatherly Browning and Joshua Robert Browning of OH; brothers, Frank Stradley (JoAnn) and Les Stradley (Susan) of Asheville; stepmother, Becky Stradley of Asheville, and several nephews and nieces.

Services will be held at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 5555 N. Tropical Trail, Merritt Island, FL at 11 a.m., Wednesday, December 17th with interment and reception to follow at the Church.  In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Luke's Church with the intention of improving the parking lot lighting.