Robert R. Brown (bishop)
{{Short description|American bishop and author}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Bishop
| honorific_prefix = The Right Reverend
| name = Robert R. Brown
| honorific_suffix =
| title = Bishop of Arkansas
| image =
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| church = Episcopal Church
| archdiocese =
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| diocese = Arkansas
| see =
| elected = 1955
| term = 1956–1970
| quashed =
| predecessor = R. Bland Mitchell
| successor = Christoph Keller Jr.
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| ordination = December 24, 1937
| ordained_by = William Theodotus Capers
| consecration = October 5, 1955
| consecrated_by = John Vander Horst
| rank =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1910|06|16}}
| birth_place = Garden City, Kansas, United States
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|02|05|1910|06|16}}
| death_place = Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
| buried = Mount Holly Cemetery
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| nationality = American
| religion = Anglican
| residence =
| parents = Joseph Leslie Brown, Madeline Swan Wells
| spouse = {{marriage|Katherine Warwick Rust|1937|1992|reason=died}}
| children = 3
| occupation =
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| previous_post = Coadjutor Bishop of Arkansas (1955-1956)
| education =
| alma_mater = St. Mary's University, Texas
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Robert Raymond Brown (June 16, 1910 – February 5, 1994) was an author and the bishop of Arkansas in The Episcopal Church.
Early life and education
Brown was born on June 16, 1910, in Garden City, Kansas, the son of a dentist, Joseph Leslie Brown, and Madeline Swan Wells.{{cite journal |date=1975 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IE_kAAAAMAAJ&q=Robert+Raymond+Brown+1955|title=THE EPISCOPATE OF HENRY NILES PIERCE 1870 - 1899|journal=White Already to Harvest: The Episcopal Church in Arkansas, 1838-1971 |volume=|pages=330}} He studied at the Texas Military Institute, and then at St. Mary's University, Texas, from where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1933. He then had a brief high school coaching career before attending Virginia Theological Seminary from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1937. He married Katherine Warwick Rust on November 3, 1937, and had three children.{{cite journal |date=1956 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ibSAAAAMAAJ&q=Robert+Raymond+Brown+b.+June+16,+1910|title=THE RT. REV . ROBERT. RAYMOND. BROWN. (. 538. ) |journal=The Living Church Annual |volume=|pages=9}}
Ordained ministry
Brown was ordained deacon on June 20, 1937, and priest on December 24, 1937, by Bishop William Theodotus Capers of West Texas. He served as priest-in-charge of All Saints' Church in San Benito, Texas, and St Alban's Church in Harlingen, Texas between 1937 and 1940, before becoming associate rector of Trinity Church in Houston, Texas in 1940. Between 1941 and 1947, he was rector of St Paul's Church in Waco, Texas while between 1947 and 1955, he served as rector of St Paul's Church in Richmond, Virginia.{{cite journal |date=1953|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7PnRAAAAMAAJ&q=Robert+Raymond+Brown+b.+June+16,+1910|title=BROWN, Robert Raymond |journal=Stowe's Clerical Directory of the American Episcopal Church|pages=45}}
Bishop
In 1955, Brown was elected Coadjutor Bishop of Arkansas and was consecrated on October 5, 1955, by Bishop John Vander Horst of Tennessee. He then succeeded as diocesan bishop on October 5, 1956. He retired on November 1, 1970. Following his retirement, he served St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Brown died in Little Rock, Arkansas on February 5, 1994.{{cite news |title=DEATHS: ROBERT R. BROWN, Episcopal Bishop
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1994/02/07/deaths/9190bf26-c397-414f-a75f-ed8702c47bab/
|author= |date=February 7, 1994 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=2015-08-21}}
Civil rights
Brown was a civil rights advocate who worked to bring an end to racial discrimination and segregation. He was as a Trustee of the American Church Institute for Negroes. In 1957 he became involved in the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.[https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/robert-raymond-brown-8889/ "Robert Raymond Brown (1910–1994)"], Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved on June 6, 2021.
Works
- {{cite book |author= |title="And One was a Soldier": The Spiritual Pilgrimage of Robert E. Lee |location=Shippensburg, Pennsylvania |publisher=White Mane Books |date=1998 |isbn=1572491183}}
- {{cite book |author= |title=Bigger Than Little Rock |location=Greenwich, Connecticut |publisher=Seabury Press |date=1958 }}
- {{cite book |author= |title="The Mountains in Reply"|location=London |publisher=Forgotten Books |date=2019|isbn=978-1528020831}}
References
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Category:People from Garden City, Kansas
Category:Activists for African-American civil rights
Category:American civil rights activists
Category:Episcopal bishops of Arkansas
Category:St. Mary's University, Texas alumni
Category:Virginia Theological Seminary alumni