Mrs. Sarah Alice Brown-Cypress

Sarah, the first of seven children, was born in Athens, Georgia, on Sunday, October 16, 1927, to the union of the late Essie Camille Byrd Brown and the late John B. Brown. Sarah left Georgia at the early age of twelve to come to the big city to live with her grandpa and relatives residing in Edgemont, PA, one of the few places Negroes would buy property in and around the Harrisburg area. Most of her life was devoted to raising nine children until she met and married Lindberg Cypress, a relationship that lasted sixty-two years. Sarah received most of her formal education in the Harrisburg School District. She was dedicated to ensuring that all her children were high school graduates and succeeded in that goal with the exception of two children. Four of the nine children attended and/or graduated from college with Associate or Bachelor Degrees. Sarah, herself, returned to school to obtain her General Educational Development Diploma through the OIC Program preparing herself for better paying jobs. Starting early in life, Sarah’s employment history included working odd jobs, the Noodle Packing Company, Dauphin County Nursing Home and retirement from the Harrisburg City School System. Although she had her hands full raising children, she loved to go fishing with her mother Essie and several of the other local women--it was like a fishing club except you had to be invited to participate. It started as a way the women would feed their families on those non-payday weeks but soon became a pleasant way to get quiet time. Sarah also had a love for the land and could plant and grow anything. Many meals came from her gardens of all natural organic foods such as tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, zucchini, collard greens, green beans, etc., as well as a variety of herbs and flowers planted all around her. Mom had a natural talent for making quilts, crocheting, latch-hooking and putting 1000-piece puzzles together in no time. As a member of St. John CME Church, Harrisburg, she faithfully served as a Stewardess at the Lord’s Table, Missionary from 1970-2003, and with the Culinary Committee. Those who knew our mother remember the funny ways she had in being truthful and honest, but made you laugh at the same time as well as her struggles and triumphs that punctuated her life. How proud she was when her oldest son Leonard helped her buy her first home through his GI Bill or the joy she felt when her youngest son Larry walked across the stage to receive his Bachelor of Arts Degree. She was always amazed that her daughters took up the love for traveling all around the United States and to foreign countries. She always said--we girls had “wonder lust” spirits in us, and that we got it from our grand-mom Essie and/or our great grandmothers who would travel from the north to the south depending on the season; springtime, always meant time to go back to Georgia. At the age of eighty-nine, while at the Carolyn Croxton Slane Hospice Residence, Harrisburg, PA, on Saturday, March 4, 2017, Sarah A. Brown-Cypress answered the call of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and peacefully departed this life joining in eternal life her parents, Essie and John Brown; four siblings, Tom, John and Dewey Brown and Virginia Matthews; five children, Leonard, Richard and Terry Brown, Odessa Shockley, Linda Morris; and two granddaughters, Selina Franklin and Tameka Penn. Mourning her loss are her remaining family members: her loving husband, Lindberg F. Cypress of Harrisburg, PA; son, Larry Morris of Harrisburg; daughters, (little) Sarah L. Brown of San Diego, CA, Patricha A. Penn and her husband Jerry of Harrisburg, Pearl M. Adams of San Diego, CA; thirteen grandchildren, twenty-five great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren, other family members and friends. Giving God all Glory, Honor and Praise, The Family of Mrs. Sarah A. Brown-Cypress

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Mrs. Sarah Alice Brown-Cypress

October 16, 1927 - March 4, 2017