Marion Evelyn “Dolly” Brown

Native Californian and longtime resident of Alamo, CA, Marion E. “Dolly” Brown passed away on February 6th in Oak Harbor, WA at the age of 100. Born and raised in Oakland on October 10th, 1912, to Harry and Lillian White, she later attended Holy Names College and married her first husband, Charles M. “Corky” Ferris. While still residing in Oakland, they had produced three children before his untimely death in 1944. She then married Harry A. Brown in 1946, and subsequently moved from Oakland to Alamo in 1949, where she bore four more children while later helping her husband in his successful campaign to become Sheriff of Contra Costa County during the early to mid-1950’s. She then worked in Real Estate home sales in a few areas of the east bay, and progressed from that to statewide sales of mobile home park properties, which were growing somewhat in popularity at the time. In 1981, her 2nd husband Harry Brown, whom she had shared 35 years of life with, preceeded her in death; afterwhich she continued to live out the rest of her active life in her beloved town of Alamo. She was a loving wife and mother, as well as a devoted Catholic, and had regularly attended Sunday masses at St. Isadore’s Catholic Church in Danville, where her time as a parishioner dates back to the church’s earlier years in the late 1940’s when the congregation had worshipped within an old rustic wooden structure, which had previously stood on Hartz Avenue near the center of town.

She is survived by her seven children : Jane Borders (Jay) of Grass Valley, CA, Charles J. Ferris (Audrey) of Hawaii, James D. Ferris (Kathy) of Antioch, CA, Susan P. Borgersen (Leif) of Wickenburg, AZ, Terry T. Brown of Danville, CA, Daniel J. Brown of Coupeville, WA, and Mary M. Baker ( Aaron) of Antioch, CA and Coupeville, WA.
She is also survived by 19 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren.

Burial arrangements will be handled by Oak Park Hills Chapel of Walnut Creek, CA, with graveside services to take place at 1 P.M. on February 15th, at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Lafayette. Family and friends are encouraged to share memories and condolences at www.whidbeymemorial.com.


Oak Park Hills Chapel Queen of Heaven Cemetery
3111 N. Main Street 1965 Reliez Valley Road
Walnut Creek, CA 94596 Lafayette, CA 94549

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