Dr. Lelia Adelaide (McClanahan) Brown

Dr. Lelia Adelaide McClanahan Brown died Jan. 1, 2022. She was 81.

In the final years of her life, she suffered from vascular dementia. Even as the dementia was attacking her brain and her body, she retained the grace and good humor that were a constant in her character.

Adelaide was born in Shreveport, LA, on Nov. 22, 1940, the daughter of E.C. and Carolyn McClanahan. She entered LSU in 1958 where she majored in journalism. She served as editor of the Daily Reveille, was a member of Chi Omega sorority and Mortar Board and Mu Sigma Rho, honorary societies. She was elected to Who's Who in American Universities and Colleges.

After graduating in June 1962, she joined the Daytona Beach, FL, News-Journal as a reporter. In December of that year, she married William Blake (Bill) Brown, a journalism classmate, and moved to St. Petersburg, FL, where he was a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times.

Their two sons, Jeff and Jamie, were born in St. Petersburg. In 1973, before the boys were school age, Adelaide and Bill and the boys left St. Petersburg to go to England. They bought a cabin cruiser and explored the River Thames and Norfolk Broads and the canals of Holland. Upon returning to the United States, the family settled in Tallahassee, where she worked for the Miami Herald's Tallahassee Bureau on its coverage of political campaign spending and then in public relations at Florida State University.

When the family moved to Columbus, GA, she served as alumni director for Columbus College until she enrolled in graduate school at Auburn University. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1985 and was employed by the Georgia Rehabilitation Hospital in Warm Springs.

When her husband's employment took him to Montgomery, she became court therapist for the juvenile court. Shortly thereafter, she and psychologist Carol Skeleton opened a private psychology practice. After her husband retired, they moved to Lake Martin and she moved her practice to the Russell Medical Center campus, first in Dadeville and then in Alexander City.

She was a member of the Alexander City Rotary Club and of Dadeville United Methodist Church.

The family moved to National Village in Opelika in 2013

She is survived by her husband, William Blake Brown; two sons, Jefferson Blake Brown (wife Karen; granddaughter Thayer, grandson Griffin) of San Antonio, TX, and James Laurence Brown (wife Amy; granddaughters Nora, Cecile and Frances; grandson Salingeri) of Montgomery; and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Saturday (Jan. 8) at 2 p.m. at Dadeville United Methodist Church located at 140 W Lafayette St, Dadeville, AL 36853.