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In Memoriam

Ralph Robert Brown - Class Of 1953

Ralph Robert Brown

Ralph Robert Brown, son of Ralph Emmert (1911-1992) and June Elaine (Keesler) (1912-1968) Brown, was born 15 October 1935, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. Ralph's mother, June, was a 1930 graduate of Okemos High.  June first married Tom Hudson in 1932 but Tom died in 1933.  June in 1934 married Ralph E. Brown.  The Brown's were living in Indianapolis, Ralph employed as a saleman for a manufactorer, when baby Ralph Robert was born.

Ralph graduated from OHS in 1953 and went on to attend and graduate from Michigan State.  He married Carolyn Elexia Beall in September 1956.  Carolyn was finishing up family laundry late at night at an MSU campus laundry building in February 1958 when she was attacked and severely bludgeoned by a Jamaican student named Claude Logan.  Carolyn recieved a terrible beating and was stabbed.  She spent considerable time in the hospital but did recover.  Logan was found guilty by a jury trial and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Ralph lived for a number of year in Warren, Macomb County where he died 19 March 1984.  There was no mention of Carolyn but rather a wife named Patricia in his short obituary.  He was interred Leek Cemetery, Okemos.  Carolyn Beall (1936-2016) died in Kentucky and was interred in Indiana.