Lucille "Maxine" (McClay) Brown
May 26, 1926 ~ January 25, 2024
Lucille “Maxine” (McClay) Brown, 97, of Ottawa, KS died Wednesday, January 24, 2024 at Rock Creek in Ottawa, Kansas.
She was born May 26, 1926 in Baldwin City, Kansas the daughter of George “Dewey” and Vera (Sutor) McClay. Maxine’s family moved to Ottawa, Kansas when she was just 5 years old, and she graduated from Ottawa High School with the class of 1944.
Maxine began working shortly after graduation from high school for the United Sates Department of Agriculture as a secretary. She worked there all of her professional career until her retirement in 1990.
Maxine was a member of NARFE for many years. She was a member of the Princeton United Methodist Church and active in the United Methodist Women at the church holding all church offices over the years. She enjoyed entertaining and having family dinners, especially her Sunday family dinner. She loved being a mother of four children and being active in their lives as they grew up, attending all of their music and school events over the years. She liked to travel but was unable to do much of it as she spent many of her years caring for her husband during retirement. She enjoyed nights out to the ELKS Lodge especially steak night. Maxine was very honest and forthright with her opinions. You always knew how she felt because she just told you, but she had a loving a kind heart that cared for her family dearly.
On January 23, 1946, Maxine was united in marriage to William David Brown in Ottawa, Kansas at the trinity United Methodist Church parsonage. They shared fifty-eight years of loving marriage until the death of David in 2004.
She was preceded in death by her husband, David Brown; her parents, Dewey and Vera McClay; a daughter, Jan Croucher; son-in-law, Pat Haas; a brother, Richard McClay; and a sister, Freone Hollinger.
She is survived by two sons, David Craig Brown and his wife, Myrna, of Greeley, KS, and Marc William Brown and his wife, Susie, of Richmond, KS; a daughter, Sharon Elaine Haas of Ottawa, KS; a brother, Lyle McClay of Chanute, KS; a sister, Geneva Culbertson of Texas; a son-in-law, Rod Croucher of Ottawa, KS; 10 grandchildren, James Brown and his wife, Amy, Springdale, AR, Travis Haas, Longdale, AR, Rachelle Rodriquez and her husband, Jerad, Broken Arrow, OK, Megan Morris and her husband, Doug, Ottawa, KS, Wade Brown and his wife, Angie, Raymore, MO, Derek Brown, Lawrence, Cody Croucher and his wife, Angela, Ottawa, KS, Andy Croucher, Ottawa, KS, Randy Hohenstein, Collinsville, OK, Robyn Erhart, Olathe, KS; 20 great-grandchildren, Caleb, Kiera, Gavin, Dane, Natalie, Nicole, Reese, Quinncy, Maleah, Weiland, Owen, Clara, Lydia, Tyler, Tanner, Brianna, Austin, William, Anastasia, Atticus; and 4 great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral Services will be 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 30, 2024 at Lamb-Roberts-Price Funeral Home, Ottawa, KS. Memorial contributions may be made to the Franklin County Historical Society and sent c/o Lamb-Roberts-Price Funeral Home, P.O. Box 14, Ottawa, KS 66067. Condolences may be sent to the family through www.lamb-roberts.com.