Grandma Funeral

Obituary

Funeral services for Beulah Alice Dawson Brownlee will be held July 17 at 10 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church in New Iberia, with the Rev. Patrick Wadsworth officiating. Visitation will be at Evangeline Funeral Home in New Iberia 2-9 p.m. July 16, and 8 a.m. until the service begins on July 17. A second service will be held July 19 at 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Hutchinson, Kan., followed by interment in the Lone Star Cemetery in Pretty Prairie, Kan.

Mrs. Brownlee died on the morning of July 14 in her home in New Iberia, where she had lived since 1952. She was 86.

Born in Aline, Okla., Mrs. Brownlee moved with her family via covered wagon to Kansas when she was an infant. She taught in a one-room school in Reno County, Kan., after graduating in 1936 from Hutchinson, Kan., Junior College. The mother of nine, she was an active volunteer in Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts of America, both in Kansas and New Iberia; and Band Boosters for New Iberia High School. She was a Sunday school teacher at First Presbyterian Church in New Iberia, and active in the Presbyterian Women.

Mrs. Brownlee was also an exoficio member of the Ham Radio Club, and enjoyed gardening, canning and sewing. She and her husband traveled extensively, visiting family throughout the U.S., and spending time in Germany, India, Wales and Israel on business.

Mrs. Brownlee is survived by her husband of 64 years, Ralph Childs Brownlee of New Iberia; five sons: The Rev. Richard D. Brownlee of Baton Rouge; Thomas R. Brownlee of Nunica, Mich.; Dale R. Brownlee of Katy, Texas; William R. Brownlee of Opelousas, La.; and Steven G. Brownlee of Mandeville, La.; three daughters: Judith B. Webb and Patricia J. Bushnell, both of New Iberia, La.; and Anne B. Blanchet of Meaux, La.; one sister: Lucille Moore of Hutchinson, Kan.; 23 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her daughter, Marilyn J. Waltrip; a brother, Cecil A. Dawson; two sisters, Mabell A Bloesser and Goldie Opal Dawson; and her parents, George W. and Bertha A. Freed Dawson.

Pallbearers will be her grandsons James W. Waltrip IV, Kevin E. Brownlee, Michael J. Webb, John M. Bushnell, Robert C. Blanchet, Ray C. Brownlee, Paul D. Brownlee, Troy T. Bienvenu and Merle D. "Dickie" Freeman. Honorary pallbearers will be grandsons Mark W. Waltrip, Michael D. Brownlee, Barney R. Brownlee, Thomas A. Brownlee, Thomas A. Haggerty Jr., Michael S. Jarvis and Phillip S. Nichols, and friend Mel Simon.

Evangeline Funeral Home of New Iberia, La., is in charge of arrangements