Ina Faye “Jill” Brown

Ina Faye “Jill” Brown, 92, passed Sunday morning, November 13, 2022, following a brief illness. She was a resident of The Palmettos Assisted Living of Mauldin, SC.  She was a member of Mauldin First Baptist Church.

Born  October 10, 1930, in rural Holmes County, FL, near Graceville, Ina was the seventh of eight children that grew up during the Great Depression in a single parent home.  She became an amazing woman of character and faith.  Her parents were Blanche Edith McIntosh Pelham and James Wesley Pelham.  She was a grand-daughter of the Rev. Walter Hilliard Clayton Morgan McIntosh, a prominent farmer and circuit-riding Baptist preacher, active in the panhandle of Florida.

Ina graduated from Poplar Springs High School and married her childhood sweetheart, Robert Cullen Brown, whose mother, Nettie Brown, had been her teacher at Poplar Springs High School.  After supporting Robert through college and having three children she attended Chipola Junior College (A.A.) (Marianna, FL); the University of Florida, (B.S.Ed. and a M.S. in Early Childhood Education).

Her teaching career began in Hawthorne, FL, (1967-68), continuing at Kirby Smith, J.J. Finley and Duval Elementary Schools in Gainesville, FL (1968-70) teaching 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. The remainder of her career was spent at Idylwild Elementary, Gainesville, FL, primarily teaching Kindergarten, retiring in 1997. While at Idylwild she served as the assistant principal in the absence of the principal and in 1986-87 led the school in developing their mathematics program.

Ina accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior when she was 25 years old and along with her husband was baptized in a lake near Dade City, FL. Attending church and serving the Lord were important to her.  She loved holidays with big family gatherings, gardening, traveling, gospel and classic country music.  She especially loved the phone call with grand and great-grand-children, nieces and nephews.  And to memorialize her beloved mother she wrote a brief biography entitled, “The Life & Times of Blanche Pelham, Where There’s a Will, There is a Way”.

Ina is survived by her son, Robert Steven Brown; daughter, Sandra Lynn Brown; and daughter, Susan Leslie Brown Hudson and husband, John Alan Hudson; six grandchildren, Steve Brown and wife, Jennifer, Ashley Brown, Sam Brown, Mark Hudson and wife, Lindsey, Lisa Lynn and husband, Brian, and Scott Hudson and wife, Brittany; and fourteen great-grandchildren, Charlotte, Jack, Natalie, Cole, Madison, Cooper, Reegan, Avery, Melody, Ethan, Callie, Mckenna, Micah and Hudson.

In addition to her parents and husband already mentioned, Ina was preceded in death by four sisters and their spouses: Bessie Jones and husband Ed; Grace Martin and husband Vance; Ann Ray and husband Clint; Nell Young and husband Walter; and three brothers, Roy and Ann Pelham; Vaughn and Shirley Pelham; and Willard and “Hannah” Pelham.

Her family extends deepest appreciation to the staff of the Palmettos Assisted Living of Mauldin, CARIS Hospice and Synergy personnel for their professional and compassionate care.

A visitation will be held Saturday, November 19, 2022 from 9:00 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. at Thomas McAfee Funeral Homes, Southeast followed by the funeral service at 10:30 a.m. Burial will be in Graceland East Memorial Park.

Family and friends who are unable to attend the service can view the Live Stream by clicking on the “Watch Livestream” button located on the main obituary page.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the First Baptist Mauldin Food Closet, 150 S. Main St., Mauldin, SC 29662.

Friends are encouraged to leave condolence messages for the family by clicking on the button labeled “Leave A Message, Share A Memory” below.