Longtime Sandusky pastor remembered as 'praying man'

SANDUSKY — Curtis Asa Brown was a World War II veteran, a father and a husband.But for more than four decades, the Oklahoma native was known in Sandusky as a church pastor always ready to pray for someone.Brown, 92, who died Tuesday in Stein Hospice Care Center, was pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Sandusky from 1966 to 2007. That's a term of 40 years and nine months, said his widow, Dolores Brown, married to the pastor for 63 years.Before that, Brown was the pastor of a church in Omaha, Nebraska, and had worked for a church in Tulsa.When Brown went to Firelands Regional Medical Center to visit the sick, he wouldn't only visit people from his own congregation, Mrs. Brown said."He would pray for everybody," she said. "A lot of people respected him. We would be in a restaurant and people would walk up," she said.They would often say, "You prayed for my mother when she was in the hospital and you didn't even know us," she said. Starting a familyBrown and his future wife met in September 1951 at Langston University in Oklahoma. She was on her way to class when two young men she knew spotted her."They called me over and told me they wanted me to meet somebody," she said.Brown had become an ordained minister only months before. In 1954, the couple married.Brown worked at a church in Tulsa as an assistant pastor and youth pastor. They were happy there, Mrs. Brown recalled, but some people from Omaha, Nebraska, who belonged to a church who needed a pastor, came to Tulsa to visit relatives and happened to hear Brown preach.They invited Brown to visit and preach and then offered him a job, so the Browns moved to Omaha, where Brown was a pastor for 10 years.He had friends in other parts of the country, too, and eventually had to decide between taking church posts in Tucson, Ariz., or Sandusky, Ohio."He chose Sandusky," she said.So they moved to Sandusky with five young children. Twins were born to the couple after they arrived.His people, his prayersBrown was active in the community and received many honors and awards over the years.His denomination, Missionary Baptist, named his church the "Church of the Year." He was active in organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and the Sandusky Citizens Coalition.Brown was born in Clearview, Oklahoma, a small town listed as having 56 people in the 2000 census, and grew up in Weleetka, a small town in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma.He would say, "don't die and go to heaven until you go to Okfuskee County," she said. "He loved Okfuskee County."Mrs. Brown said her husband's idea of a vacation was to go back home to Oklahoma."Every time we went on vacation, we would go back home," she said."He was just a home person," she said. "He didn't golf. He didn't fish. He didn't hunt. All he did was read the Bible, preach, talk to people on the phone. He said his church, his people, was his recreation."In his last year, Brown suffered from Alzheimer's and was a resident of the Ohio Veterans Home, reflecting his service during World War II, when he served in the Pacific Theater as a vehicle mechanic. He had planned to join the service again as a chaplain before he met his wife.Brown often did not end a visit to his home or finish a telephone call until he had prayed for the person he was talking to."He was a praying man. That's for sure," Mrs. Brown said.A wake for Brown will be hosted from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19, at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 1215 Pierce St., Sandusky. A celebration of Pastor Brown's life and ministry will be 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 20, at the church.Memorial contributions may be made to Alzheimer's Support Group, Stein Hospice Service, or Ohio Veterans Home Resident Fund.Reach reporter Tom Jackson at jackson@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @jacksontom.Curtis Asa Brown, looking up a passage in the Bible. Curtis Asa Brown at home.Curtis Asa Brown and his wife, Dolores.Pastor Curtis Asa Brown with members of his family. Pastor Curtis Asa Brown. Pastor Curtis Asa Brown in downtown Sandusky.