Marsha's obituary
Marsha Karen (Black) Brown, 72, of Conway, AR, passed away in her home on Thursday, April 13, 2023. She was born on, January 24, 1951 in Bald Knob, AR to Pastor Franklin “Frank” and Anna Ruth Black. She was raised Church of Christ and most recently attended Northside Church of Christ.
Marsha graduated from Bradford High in 1969. She attended State College of Arkansas (now known as UCA) in 1970, but upon learning it would be another two years before she ever set foot in a hospital, she decided to pursue her nursing degree at Foothills Votech in Searcy. After receiving her LPN license, she worked at White County Memorial Hospital and other hospitals or nursing facilities over the years. While she loved nursing, toward the end of her career she worked primarily in nursing homes and in her words "grew tired of watching grandma and grandpa die every day." She decided to leave her 25 year nursing career and worked for many years at Conway Human Development Center, SAS Shoe Factory and Kimberly Clark before leaving the workforce in 2006 after being declared legally blind.
Marsha loved spending time with family, attending church, and visiting with the friends she made at the Conway Senior Citizens Center. She loved singing, dancing, playing card games and computer games, and doing puzzles. She was an avid reader and took her Kindle everywhere she went. She loved to tell stories of her childhood and truly never met a stranger.
She leaves her daughter Joanna Gail Helm and husband Corey of Little Rock, daughter Melissa Dawn Brown of Calico Rock, AR, 6 grandchildren, 13 nieces and nephews, 26 great nieces and nephews, 48 great great nieces and nephews, and a host of extended family and friends.
Marsha was preceded in death by her parents, her stepfather Gerald “Jack” Bernard Hays, her five siblings Janice Olea (Black,Sturch) Flowers, Anna Gail Lawson, Robert Wayne “Butch” Black, Eva Christeen Sturch (Wheeler), Charles Franklin Black, and her son, Kristofer Gerald Brown.
"It's hard to turn the page when you know someone won't be in the next chapter, but the story must go on."
- Thomas Wilder