Julia Rita Brown

Julia Rita Brown (Nee Arroyo) of Magnolia, New Jersey passed peacefully at home surrounded by her family on December 13, 2024 at age 93.
Julia, the daughter of Juan and Maria Arroyo (Ruiz), was born on June 15, 1931 in Caguas, Puerto Rico. She came from a large and loving family, who were all raised alongside her in Puerto Rico. Her siblings (Gertrude, Juan, Elisa, Antonio, Ramon, Gloria and Jose Manuel) all predeceased her. She attended City College in New York City. While living there, she met and married her future husband, the late Francis William Brown Sr.
Francis and Julia were married for 63 years. They were devoted to each other. Julia was the loving mother of Bernard Manuel (predeceased), Francis William (Karen) of Ambridge, PA, Gerardette (Mohammed) of Magnolia, NJ, and Michelle (Carey) of Cherry Hill, NJ. She was the beloved grandmother of Katrina (Manny), Kerstin (Jorge), Ali, Omar, and Khadija Julia and cherished great grandmother of Kyla, Eliana, Julian, Greyson, Xavier, Jaxson, Sebastian, Alaïa, and River.
Deeply religious, Julia brought their children up with faith. Julia enjoyed cooking, baking, listening to music, dancing, singing, gardening, and praying. Her home was always filled with the smells of baking, the sounds of music, statues of her patron saints, crucifixes, and stacks of books. She surrounded that same home with the flowers and trees she planted and nurtured over the years.
She was a foster parent for over 20 years. She loved those children as her own and kept in touch with many. She also babysat for the neighborhood children and considered Kathryn Hollender-Kidder of Pennsauken, NJ her adoptive granddaughter. Julia opened her home to anyone who needed a place to stay. She enjoyed the company of exchange students from Spain, Croatia, Ukraine and Japan.
She attended mass regularly at St. Gregory's, St. Jude's, and St. Theresa's until she became homebound. Her niece Kathleen Rapanaro, an Eucharistic minister, brought her the Eucharist every Sunday.
Julia lived the quote: "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40).
Her viewing will be on January 2, 2025 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm and January 3, 2025 from 9:00 am to 10:00 am at Gardner Funeral Home located at: 126 South Black Horse Pike, Runnemede, New Jersey. Her funeral mass will be held from 10:30 to 11:30 am on January 3, 2025 at St. Jude's Church located at: 402 S. Black Horse Pike, Blackwood, NJ. Mass will be celebrated in Spanish. Burial to follow at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery located at: 350 Province Line Road, Wrightstown, New Jersey.