Submitted by
Karen Stewart

Darleen Brown

Darleen Brown, Ponca City resident, passed away on Tuesday, May 16, 2006, at the Ponca City Medical Center. She was 80.
A service will be held in her memory on Friday, May 19, at 2 p.m. at First Christian Church with the Rev. Larry Metzger, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in the Plymouth Cemetery near Shamrock, Texas, at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 20. Arrangements are under the direction of the Trout Funeral Home. The family will greet friends from 7 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at the funeral home.
Darleen Lang was born at home on Oct. 9, 1925, in Hedley, Texas, to John Raymond Lang and Margaret Lenore Phillips Lang. In 1937 Darleen and her family moved to Samnorwood, Texas, and lived a quarter of a mile from Plymouth, Texas. She graduated from Quail High School in Quail, Texas, as valedictorian and went to Fort Worth, Texas, where she attended Durham's Business College.
She worked as a secretary for the Presidential Conductors Union at the Santa Fe Railroad. In May of 1951 she moved to Ponca City. In 1969 Darleen began working for Sooner Life Insurance Company as an underwriting secretary. She retired in 1989.
In earlier years, she helped with the Camp Fire Girls and Cub Scouts and was president of the women's golf association at Wentz Golf Course.
Darleen enjoyed being outdoors. She had an appreciation for flowers, birds and gardening. Over the years she collected music boxes and postcards. She loved to travel and spent many trips with her daughter as they pursed their genealogy interests from Texas to Virginia.
Darleen loved spending time with friends and family and cherished her role as a mother and grandmother. She will also be remembered as a meticulous housekeeper.
The true center of Darleen's life was her faith in God. Darleen was a longtime member of the First Christian Church, where she enjoyed being active with Friendship Feast, the Woman's Guild and the funeral dinner committee. She also spent time with shut-in ministry projects. Throughout the years, Darleen documented many memories of her life in a journal that her family now has to cherish. She will be dearly missed in the lives of many.
Survivors include her children, Nancy Stevenson of Carrollton, Texas; her son, Philip Brown of Houston, Texas; and her sister, Helen Parker of Hollis.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Hugh Marshal Lang; and sister, Beulah Gibson.
Honorary casket bearers will be Tom Stevenson, Philip Brown, Norris Parker, David Brown, Stan Brown and Lee Brown.
Memorial contributions may be made to the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Building Fund, 210 N. Fifth, Ponca City, Okla. 74601.
"Life is no candle, shining briefly then gone, life is a torch that is passed on and on."