Brown, Lelia Ann

(Sister Anna Mary) (June 14, 1873-Jan. 2, 1967). Leading African American sister. She was born in Macon, North Carolina. Brown was left an orphan as a small child and brought up by a white Baptist minister. She was confirmed in the Episcopal Church in 1895, and in 1897 she entered the novitiate of the Community of All Saints. On Dec. 13, 1910, she was professed in the Community of St. Mary and All Saints, a Negro order affiliated with the Community of All Saints. When the Community of St. Mary and All Saints was later disbanded, Sister Anna Mary continued to keep her vows and wear her habit. Brown was a parish worker in St. Andrew's Church, Cleveland, and St. Monica's Church, Washington, D.C. In 1931 she became house mother and dietitian at St. Agnes' Hospital, Raleigh, North Carolina. She retired in 1941. During the next fourteen years she was a volunteer worker in East Orange, New Jersey. In 1955 she went to Glendale, Ohio, and in 1956 received the habit and became a full member of the Community of the Transfiguration. Brown died in Glendale.