July 3, 2009

Letters to the Editor

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Late priest leaves lasting impression and will be missed by many people

I was saddened to hear about the death of Father Henry P. Brown. His sister, Dorothy, called me with the sad news.

He had been having a lot of health issues with the most recent being a stroke in May.

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to interview him for the history book for St. Michael Parish in Charlestown before his passing, and that he had the opportunity to see it before he left us.

He made such an impression on me when I was a teenager at St. Michael Parish. I will always remember his wise counsel when he was moderator for St. Michael’s CYO back in the 1950s.

St. Michael’s was his first assignment after ordination in 1951.

I met Father Brown five years later when I entered the eighth grade at St. Michael School. My family had moved from New Albany to Charlestown in the fall of 1956 when my father got transferred.

Father Brown will be missed by many people. I will miss the wonderful telephone calls we had over the past few months and years after he left St. Michael’s. Whenever I was down in the dumps, he brought me right back up to a brighter day.

I will miss that, but I know he gave me something even brighter to think about for years to come—his friendship, his love for God and his Church, and his priestly ministry.

Father Brown was a very special person and priest to me and my family over the years as well as a loving and caring priest serving his flock throughout the archdiocese. May he rest in peace.

- Charles Ledbetter, Charlestown

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