Benjamin Frazier Brown

1924 - 2015

Benjamin Frazier Brown

Virginia Beach - Benjamin Frazier Brown, 90, died in Portsmouth, NH on March 29. The son of the late David Heston Brown and Christine Foutz Frazier Brown, Ben was born September 30, 1924 in Woodland, NC. A birthright Quaker, he attended Westtown School, in Pennsylvania, and was a 1948 graduate of Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.

Ben was a longtime member of Virginia Beach Friends Meeting; an early member of the Virginia Beach Art Association, now the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia; and an early member of the Tidewater Memorial Society. He retired from Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 1992, after 32 years with the retailer.

In retirement, he was a member and past vice president of the Sears Tidewater Retiree Club. He traveled to Europe and China and up and down the East Coast of the United States. He enjoyed writing, gardening, baking, photography, and visiting with family and friends.

In 1961, he married Myra Macauley Smith, who died in February of this year. They had two sons, Benjamin Clifford Brown of Portsmouth, NH and Jonathan Todd Brown of Tucson, AZ, and a daughter, Myra Elizabeth (Betsy) Brown of Durham, NC. In addition to his children and three grandchildren, Ben is survived by his brother, David Heston Brown, Jr., of Greensboro, NC.

A memorial service will be held this summer at the Virginia Beach Friends Meeting House. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Virginia Beach Friends Meeting, 1537 Laskin Rd., Virginia Beach, VA 23541.