A Notable AME: Linda Brown Thompson
Please find below the Obituary of Mrs. Linda Brown Thompson and a letter of condolence to her family from Bishop Clement W. Fugh, President, Council of Bisohps, AME Church:
Linda Brown Thompson
February 20, 1943 – March 25, 2018
Linda Brown Thompson, 75, of Topeka, passed away March 25, 2018 at the Lexington Park Nursing & Post-Acute Center. She was born February 20, 1943 in Topeka, Kansas, the first of three children born to the Rev. Oliver Brown and Leola Brown. She was preceded in death by her husband William L. Thompson.
Linda graduated from Central High School in Springfield, Missouri and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education from Kansas State University. For several years Linda taught as a Head Start teacher and taught private piano lessons. She was an accomplished pianist and a long-standing member of St. Mark’s African Methodist Episcopal Church in Topeka, Kansas (a church pastored by her late father Rev. Oliver Brown, for whom the landmark U.S. Supreme Court Case in Brown vs. Board of Education is named). Linda provided musical accomplishment for more than 40 years at St. Mark’s and was actively involved in the Church’s ministry in many other ways, until her health failed.
Linda, who as a Kansas girl was at the center of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling, traveled the country lecturing about the history and significance of the civil rights milestone that eventually outlawed segregation in public schools.
Linda, is survived by a son: Charles D. Smith, and a daughter Kimberly A. Smith, her mother Leola Brown Montgomery and siblings Terry Brown Tyler and Cheryl Brown Henderson, three Grandsons, three great-Grandchildren, and a host of Nieces and Nephews.
As the Nation remembers the “iconic” Linda Brown, the St. Mark’s A.M.E. Church; Pastor Rev. Shirley D. Heermance, Officers and the entire Church family will cherish memories of Linda as a member beloved and a dear Sister in Christ, whose faithfulness was without question. We are grateful to God that we had opportunity to have a relationship that was up close and personal for many years. She will be dearly missed. Our prayers are with the Family and the Nation that mourns her death.
A private service for family and friends will be held at the St. Mark’s AME Church, 801 NW Harrison Street, Topeka Kansas on April 5, 2018.
Condolences may be sent to Peaceful Rest Funeral Chapel, 401 SW Harrison Street, Topeka, KS 66603.
Please click on the link below to view the condolence letter that Bishop Clement W. Fugh, President, Council of Bishops, AME Church, sent to the family of Linda Brown Thompson: