Verdie Gay Browning Brown Coleman, 98, died peacefully on Sunday, June 11, at National Health Care Parklane in Columbia, South Carolina. A Memorial Service for Verdie Coleman will be held at Rocky Branch Baptist Church in Woodland, Alabama, on Friday, June 30, at 2:00 pm, followed by a visitation. Rocky Branch Baptist Church is where family members have attended church since the late 1920's and where she will be laid to rest.

Verdie Coleman was born in Lineville, Alabama, the daughter of James Barnett Browning and Lanie Cummings. A loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great grandmother, sister and aunt, she will be missed by all those whose lives she touched.

Throughout her life, Verdie Coleman was guided by her love for God and her family. At three Baptist churches in two states, she served as Women's Missionary Union (WMU) Director and as Associational WMU Director for five years in Clermont, Florida. Until age 90, she was WMU Director at First Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Georgia. During her employment as Customer Service Manager at Sears in Savannah, Georgia, she was active in the American Business Women's Association and, in 1985, was named "Woman of the Year" at their national convention.

For the past seven years, Verdie Coleman lived at The Waterford Retirement Community in Columbia, South Carolina, prior to her residence at National Healthcare. The family wishes to acknowledge and express appreciation to the staff and nurses at National Health Care Parklane and Palmetto Health Richland Hospice for their compassionate care and to the Pastors and Congregational Care Team at Northeast Presbyterian Church for their faithful visits and support.

Survivors include her children, James Parrish Brown (Jo) of Beaufort, South Carolina; Brenda Brown Crowley (Bill) of Columbia, South Carolina; G. Ronald Brown (Debbie) of Ellicott City, Maryland; stepdaughter, Nan Higgins (Mike) of Travelers Rest, South Carolina; eleven grandchildren, nineteen great-grandchildren and one great-great granddaughter. Also surviving are her sister, Algalene Browning Sheppard of Wedowee, Alabama, and numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to her parents and husbands, George Parrish Brown and Raymond Henry Coleman, Verdie Coleman was preceded in death by a sister, Pauline Browning Ward, and twin brothers, Holdridge and Coleman Browning.

Memorial gifts, in lieu of flowers, may be made to Rocky Branch Baptist Church, 12215 County Road 59, Woodland, Alabama 36280.