LeOra Frances "Fran" Brown

LeOra Frances Lacy was born in Nashville, AR on February 29th, 1936, to Ruth Ellen (Sherrill) Lacy and Willie (Bill) Lacy. From the very start, this leap-year baby was special. Ruth and Willie owned and operated a restaurant and gas station in Siloam Springs, located approximately at the corner of now Hwy 412 and Hwy 59, where Fran would work waiting tables when she returned home from school each day. Those early years of working at the restaurant and helping take care of her younger sister Leanna (1944-2018) taught Fran the value of hard work, and the importance of family. Fran graduated from Siloam Springs High School in 1954, which is the same year she married Richard “Dick” Brown, who she was married to for 32 years until he passed in 1986. Fran and Dick had two girls, Brenda and Rhonda, who were loved and cherished by their parents who taught them the importance of sitting down to the dinner table together, celebrating every milestone, and never missing a vacation trip to the beach, mountains, or just an afternoon trip to Spavinaw Creek. Fran started teaching Sunday School at First Christian Church in Siloam Springs when she was twelve years old, and she stayed active in the same church for her entire life. She rarely missed a service, and over the next 75 years, she played the piano, organized congregational and community meals, collected and distributed gifts to the elderly and infirmed, supported mission work and church camp, and helped host countless wedding receptions and baby showers with the Irma Moss Ladies’ Circle (since renamed the Fran Brown Ladies’ Circle). She cared deeply about her church family and lived a life dedicated to the type of service Jesus calls us to do. Fran worked as a secretary for Bear Brand Hosiery, the Siloam Springs Junior High School, the Siloam Springs Superintendent’s office, and eventually retired from the Siloam Springs High School Counselor’s office, totaling 36 years of dedicated service in the Siloam Springs School system. Fran then started an entirely new career at the Single Parent Scholarship Office in Bentonville, where she worked for another 17 years serving the greater Northwest Arkansas community. Fran was a wonderful secretary, but she was so much more than just her office skillset. She was the person who brought light and love to work, made strudel for office birthdays, and supported the people around her. Fran’s love and care for her family, friends, and neighbors was her greatest priority, and we are so very lucky to have felt that love. In 1975, Brenda married Joseph Huss, and in 1977 Rhonda married Charlie King and they both went on to have beautiful families. In addition to Fran’s three grandchildren, Benjamin Huss, Rebekah (Huss) Fox, and Lacy (King) Dahl, Fran had seven great-grandchildren, Ayla Huss, Iris Huss, Ethan Huss, Olivia Huss, Ava Dahl, Christian Fox, and Adikis Fox. A visitation will be held at Wasson’s Funeral Home in Siloam Springs from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 28, 2026. A celebration of life will be held at the First Christian Church at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, followed by burial at Oak Hill Cemetery. Everyone is invited to attend a friends and family fellowship at the church following the burial. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Siloam Springs High School Scholarship Program, Attention: Amber Carter, Post Office Box 798, Siloam Springs, AR 72761 or the Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Northwest Arkansas. https://form-renderer-app.donorperfect.io/give/single-parent-scholarship-fund-of-northwest-arkansas/website-donation-form

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LeOra Frances "Fran" Brown

February 29, 1936 - March 17, 2026