The following article is from The Columbus Dispatch, "Ohio's Greatest Home Newspaper" and our only daily paper. The author, Mr. Hoover, provided daily coverage for the Dispatch during GenCon2000. There was a photo, but it is not in the Dispatch website, www.dispatch.com.

The service was beautiful. Five Bishops were in attendance (Webster, DeVeaux, McKenzie, Belin, and Chapelle) but only Webster and DeVeaux were on the "program" for remarks. Connectional officer Adrienne Morris (YPD Director) and other Ohio Conference and Terrific Third folks participated in various roles during the service.

The eulogy was given by his pastor, Dr. William S. Wheatley and based upon three texts from the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles. It was a dignified service befitting a dignified man.

AME MOURNS LOSS OF ARTHUR BROWN

Friday, July 4, 2003 NEWS - FAITH & VALUES 03E

By Felix Hoover THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Illustration: Photo

Arthur D. Brown, the top- ranking nonclergyman worldwide in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, will be entombed at 10 a.m. Saturday at Union Cemetery.

Brown, 70, died of a heart attack Saturday morning at his home in Berwick, said Daisy Lewis, his sister.

His many contributions to church and community were remembered by the denomination's ranking laity and clergy during his funeral last night at Mount Vernon Avenue AME Church on the Near East Side.

"We were very saddened by this occurrence. It happened so quickly,'' the Rev. William S. Wheatley, Mount Vernon's pastor, said earlier yesterday. "When we talk about faith in action, he certainly epitomizes that.''

In 2001, Brown became the first Ohioan elected president of the Connectional Lay Organization, the highest office among the denomination's laity. He was one of the planners for the organization's biennial meeting next week in New Orleans.

"He was delightful just to know and be around,'' said lifelong friend Edna Finch, a church trustee. "He was dedicated to the AME. The church, that was his love.''

The Rev. Thomas E. Liggins, presiding elder for the church's Columbus district, admired Brown's attention to detail.

"He was just a very dedicated lay person; very supportive to his pastor and bishop and an excellent organizer,'' he said.

Brown, a retired manager at Battelle Memorial Institute, also was constantly in demand around the world as a speaker.

"He tried to be there for everyone who wanted him,'' Liggins said.

The Rev. Burton Cantrell, former executive director of the Metropolitan Area Church Council, remembers Brown as a leader in the mental-health field as well as the religious community. Brown was board president of Columbus Area Inc., formerly the Columbus Area Community Mental Health Center.

fhoover@dispatch.com

Caption: The church's highest-ranking layman succumbed to a heart attack at age 70 last weekend at his home.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2003