Born the summer of 1937, June 1st, my home town was called Portageville, Missouri. Portageville was a very small town
where mostly everyone was related. The small house in which we lived had three rooms: a sitting room, one bedroom and a
kitchen. We had two beds, one where my father and mother slept and the three kids slept in the other. We had a toilet called
the “outhouse” which was outside in the back of the house. During the night, we used a large bucket to urinate, etc. The
nights were dark. I loved the summer season because everything came alive. In the front and back there were flowers; red
roses, four and five feet high yellow sunflowers, and an array of many beautiful flowers.
My father worked the farm, he cultivated the fields, planting all his crops. He often worked in the fields, from sun up until sun
down. I loved watching my father drive the red tractor. He had a large plowing mechanism attached to the tractor. He would
go down one row and up the next one until all was completed. My family grew all kinds of vegetables, watermelon, greens and
long stalks of corn, we even made their own corn meal. We also had pecan trees and peanut patches. My mother rose early in
the morning to prepare a full breakfast. She would make delicious meals that included grits, biscuits, eggs, and hash browns.
My mother was very clean, she would wash in a huge black pot and hang the clothes on the clothesline where they would dry
wonderfully in the sun. She would prepare her two older children's clothes the night before school. My sister and brother had
to walk to school every morning. I wasn’t old enough to attend school. At the age of three or four I was stricken with a
disease called infantile paralysis. My parents tried many home remedies, but nothing availed the illness. I got progressively
worse. Each day I would request that my bed be moved near the window where and the sun shown through. I wasn’t aware I
was basking in God’s healing light. There I would watch the children jumping rope and playing various games. From that
experience I knew one day I would be running and jumping rope like the other children who also were wearing pretty shoes. I
grew stronger and stronger, an image was created; with an out stretched neck looking and expecting to be healed and walk-
ing again. I didn’t have any biblical principles, but the word was inside. I called forth the manifestation as described in Romans
4:17 which says “calling things that be not as though there were.” Oh yes, I spent many lonely hours dealing with pain and
suffering. I witnessed birth, death, pain, joy, children separated from their parents through death or just rejection. Some
couldn’t stand to cope with their children twisted and deformed so they left them.
In December 1974, I gave my life to Christ at Westside Center for Truth for Better Living under the pastorate of Helen
Cooper. I was listening as she taught that we didn’t have to be sick, that we could put our trust in the Lord. As I reflected on
my childhood, how He had delivered me from physical illness, I believed He didn’t bring me this far to leave me. That’s when I
made a quality decision to give my life to the Lord. The statement is often made, “Put your trust in the Lord”. I came to the
conclusion that the same Lord that healed me as a child is the same and He would bind up my wounds and mend my broken
heart. He is Jehovah Raphe: God health thee. As an adult, there were some open wounds and some heartaches that needed
mending. From that point, I began to learn to take all of my cares to the Lord. I stopped taking headache pills and stomach
pills. Every bottle and box the doctor gave me went down in the trash. Today, I don’t use any medication of any kind.
Recently, I visited the doctor and he said that I am one of his healthiest patients. I believe this is due to trusting in the Lord as
my Healer and speaking words of health. These are the best years of my life. I believe and pray that God will grant me many
years. I am not saying God has to put sickness on you in order to be used by Him. Satan was trying to take me out, but God
had another plan and purpose for Earlean’s life.
Addendum Earlean was a faithful member of Living Word Christian Center for many years. She loved to travel and make
garments for her friends and family, her specialty was African attire. Earlean loved to teach art and crafts to children and
writing poems.
On February 22, 2020 Earlean departed this life. She was preceded in death by her parents, Roland Brown and Clara Williams;
siblings, Allen, Roland Jr., Rose and Eleanor. She leaves to cherish her memory two children, Tony Brown and Vincent Brown;
three sisters, Esthola Williams, Cordelia Washington and Annette Toliver; her best friend, Rosie Turner and a host of nieces,
nephews, cousins, and friends.
Musical Prelude ........................................................................................................ Musician
Processional of Family .............................................................................. Pastor James Glaspie
Scripture ................................................................................................ Pastor James Glaspie
Prayer .................................................................................................... Pastor James Glaspie
Solo Selection ................................................................................................... LWCC Soloist
Reading of Obituary ............................................................................................Read Silently
Solo Selection ................................................................................................... LWCC Soloist
Eulogy ................................................................................................... Pastor James Glaspie
Altar Call ............................................................................................... Pastor James Glaspie
Benediction ............................................................................................ Pastor James Glaspie
Solo Selection ................................................................................................... LWCC Soloist
Recessional ............................................................................................. Pastor James Glaspie
Interment ........................... Forest Home Cemetery, 863 Des Plaines Ave, Forest Park, IL 60130
Friday, March 6, 2020
Wake: 10:00 a.m. Funeral: 11:00 a.m.
Living Word Christian Center
7600 West Roosevelt Road, Forest Park, IL 60130