17 Jun Eleanore Datema: Remembering June Brown

June Brown (left) and Eleanore Datema at a US National Conference meeting.

Eleanore Datema
Former UB missionary June Brown passed away on June 4, 2020.

I didn’t meet June Brown until 1957, the year Jerry and I began our work in Sierra Leone. She lived in Mattru and we lived in Bumpe, and in those days missionaries didn’t travel much. Later, she moved to Bumpe to teach in Bumpe High School, where I got to know her better.

When I think of June, I’m reminded of Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica, where he said in verse 1:3, “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Faith. She had faith in God, which resulted in obedience to his call to serve in Sierra Leone. She had faith he would empower her to do that work and that he would be with her in every situation.

Love. Her labor was prompted by love—for Jesus, for her fellow missionaries, and for her African students and friends. It was a love that mentored, taught, and gave of her time and gifts to fill needs. It was a love that caused her to patiently pull stingers out of the students’ heads when the bee honey melted and made them mad.

Hope. Her endurance and faithfulness was inspired by hope in the Lord. Hope that her students would find Jesus as Savior. Hope that they would follow their dreams and reach their goals—and pass their exams! Hope that her life and words would show Christ’s love, care, and joy to others.

1 Corinthians 13:13 tells us that these three great virtues remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love…and June Brown certainly loved the Sierra Leoneans!

14 Jun Obituary: Charlie Snider, age 100, in Toronto

Charlie Snider

Charles Edward Snider passed away June 12, 2020, in Toronto, Ontario. He was 100 years old. He is somewhat of a legendary figure among United Brethren in Canada, particularly in the area of missions.

Charlie, as he was known to everyone, served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War 2, working as groundcrew in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. In 1972, he started “Maintenance for Missions,” and traveled around the world to build and fix things for various mission organizations. He initiated and supervised numerous work teams through the United Brethren Church to build churches, schools, and small water projects. He fixed lawn mowers, generators, and hospital equipment. He installed water systems in Sierra Leone, installed and fixed hospital equipment in Angola and Kenya, drilled wells to provide clean water in Ethiopia, rebuilt/installed hydro-electric generators in Ecuador and Kenya…and much more.

Charlie’s wife, Rev. Ruth Snider, an ordained United Brethren minister, spent many years pastoring UB churches in Ontario. She also served as president of the Women’s Missionary Association and as a member of the denominational Board of Missions. She also worked as director of Food for the Hungry Canada. Their son Stan and his wife, Vicki, were missionaries at Mattru Hospital in Sierra Leone until the civil war started.

Because of Covid-19 restrictions, only immediate family will gather for a graveside service. You can read Charlie’s full obituary here.

11 Jun Donna Hollopeter: Travels with June Brown

Donna Hollopeter (right) retired in 2016 after 22 years as associate director of UB Global.

In 1992, right after June Brown returned from Sierra Leone when the war broke out, I was asked to accompany her on a speaking tour in the Midwest. I had been in the UB Missions department for about a year and I thought it would be a great opportunity. It was not only a great opportunity, but one of my most memorable experiences.

We had a number of churches booked, so we were on the road for quite a while—ten days, as I remember. While we were traveling, the Oklahoma bombing of the Federal Building took place. Timothy McVeigh was captured in a small town close to where we were staying one evening. We returned to our hotel room to find TV trucks and FBI personnel everywhere. We found out that McVeigh
was being held in the town jail until he could be moved the next day, and the FBI had commandeered all of the available rooms at our motel that evening while waiting to escort him to another location. I remember June saying to me that night, as we turned out the lights to go to sleep, “Well, we should sleep really well tonight with all this protection!”

On this same trip, we were visiting another church, and both June and I were engaged in meeting and greeting the people. I noticed that one particular gentleman kept returning to talk to June. After the service, he escorted us to our car and said to June, “You know, I always thought it would be a wonderful thing to be married to a missionary. Do you think you would like to live in the Midwest?”

June didn’t skip a beat and replied, “No, I’d rather live in Africa.”

She told me later she was hoping he didn’t tell her he would like to live there too. We laughed many times about her “marriage proposal.”

I will always remember the time Global Ministries Director Gary Dilley, his wife Rhonda, my husband Jason, and I traveled to Sierra Leone with June and Ruth Benner. We had the opportunity to listen to June and Ruth talk about all of their experiences, and we laughed so hard at some of their stories. On this trip, wherever we went, people in the villages would become so excited because Miss Brown and Miss Benner were there. It was evident June and Ruth were beloved.

I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to know June and travel with her. What a woman of God and a dear friend!

10 Jun Remembering June Brown

June L. Brown (right), age 89, of Chambersburg, Pa., passed away on Thursday, June 4, 2020. She served 35 years as a United Brethren missionary in Sierra Leone. Private graveside services will be held at Norland Cemetery in Chambersburg. No other arrangements have been announced at this time.

You can read June Brown’s obituary on the Geisel Funeral home website. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in her name to UB Global, 302 Lake St., Huntington, IN 46750. Designed “Sierra Leone Hospital” on the memo lane. Or, contributions can be made to King Street Church Joy Class, 56 North Second St., Chambersburg, PA 17201.

On June 9, UB Central posted a tribute from Dr. Billy Simbo. Here are tributes from people who knew June Brown well.

Respected by Everyone (by C. Ray Miller)

C. Ray Miller chaired the Board of Missions 1965-1993, and was bishop 1973-1993. He and his wife, Lanie, live in Fort Wayne, Ind.

When I think of June Brown, one word comes to mind: respect. I’ve seen this in many ways.

Lanie and I have crossed paths with June Brown many times, and in many ways, over the years. We knew June when she was a student at Huntington College. We saw the respect shown by her professors and fellow students. That respect was shown many years later, in 1993, when she received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Huntington College.

When I was an assistant pastor at King Street Church in Chambersburg, June’s home church, I learned to know her family and I hunted deer with June and her family. They had such great respect for her. King Street Church showed their respect by honoring June when she came home on furlough and by supporting her.

The Board of Missions had the utmost respect for June’s expertise and her many years of faithful service. Lanie and I, on a visit to Sierra Leone, stayed with June in Bumpe. We were amazed at how many people knew her. We could clearly see the respect they had for her.

Likewise, June was deeply respected by her fellow United Brethren missionaries, whether they served in Sierra Leone or elsewhere. When she visited other missionaries–at board meetings, annual conferences, and in other settings–you could see their respect for her.

Lanie and I consider it a great privilege to have known June Brown.

A Great Teacher (by Dr. Ron Baker)

Dr. Baker grew up largely in Sierra Leone and attended Centennial Secondary School in Mattru.

One thing that will always remain in my mind is that Miss June Brown trained a team of Bumpeh High School students who proved to be intellectually superior to students of Centennial in the Christian Endeavour quiz competition. This was the 1968/69 academic year when Centennial was at its zenith in academic terms.

We had students like Habib Mohammed, Sahr John, Mohammed Conteh, Abu Mansaray, George Yakawa, Mahmoud Kamara, Francis Gandhi, Lucinda Quinn, and many others. Academically, Centennial was riding high. So that year we made the trip to Bumpeh High School, where the annual Christian Endeavour rally was being held.

Centennial fielded two teams for the rally. We had the junior team of which I was a member, and the senior team comprised mostly of 4th and 5th formers of Centennial. It was strictly a Bible quiz, and all the questions were taken from 1 Corinthians.

On the first day of quiz competition, the Bumpeh High School team knocked out the junior team in the morning, and in the afternoon they also knocked out our senior team.

This sparked a high level of animosity between the two schools. Bitter arguments were flaring up everywhere. But the bottom line was that we the students from Centennial were bad losers. We had come to the quiz competition with an air of superiority thinking that the quiz competition was going to be an easy walk-over for our teams.

But we had not reckoned with Miss June Brown’s coaching techniques. She burst our bubble and brought us back down to earth with a double knockout punch.

On the final day of the quiz, the Bumpeh High School team had to contend with the team from the Freetown UBC Church in Campbell Street. For obvious reasons, we were supporting the team from Freetown. But we were bitterly disappointed as the Bumpeh High School team coached by June Brown won the final quiz competition.

I do recall that the Bumpeh High School students, including Rev. Joe Abu (who was attending Bumpeh High School at the time), went on a victory parade all over Bumpeh town.

However the quiz competition was scrapped in the succeeding years because it engendered a lot of animosity between the two schools.

The victory of the Bumpeh High School team was testament to the fact that Miss June Brown was such a great teacher, that even one of the best schools at the time could not compete against her team.

As they say, “In living you make your life sublime, so that in death you leave your footprints in the sands of time.”

Consequently, Miss June Brown has left an indelible print not only in the lives of the students she taught, but also that of the UBC Mission in general. May her blessed soul rest in perfect peace.

Larger than Life (by Rev. Tom Datema)

Tom Datema grew up partly in Sierra Leone as a missionary kid, and later went back as a UB missionary. He is now pastor of the UB church in Zanesville, Ind.

June was one of a kind. I remember first meeting her as a five-year-old on the Bumpe High School campus where she lived. She was larger than life as the lady who played tennis every evening before heading down to the river for a bath, hunting monkeys in the surrounding villages, and drinking Coca-Cola for breakfast.

She patrolled the campus from her veranda and had a constant flow of students walking past to say good morning. Those conversations shaped the lives of hundreds of students. She was also instrumental in keeping missionaries focused on their work, and was a great example of how to work with patience and creativity.

A Saint and a Wonderful Friend (by Miriam Prabhakar)

Miriam and June are among the longest-tenured United Brethren missionaries.

June was a saint and also a wonderful friend. She always welcomed anyone with open arms, a hug, and a great big smile. I admired her simplicity so very very much. She had stories which could keep you engaged well into the morning.

She was a very courageous women, taking a stand for the Lord in difficult situations and being there for people to lean on. There were not many things she was afraid of, which really helped her as she served on the mission field.

My regret is that I did not have an opportunity to work alongside her. What a blessing and privilege for me to know her and learn what trusting and having faith in the Lord is, in any situation. She touched, served, and loved so many in the country which God called her to. Au revoir June, till we meet again in His presence.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will reward to me on that day” (2 Timothy 4:7).

08 Jun Remembering “Mama Brown”

Admirers and former students gather at June Brown’s house in 2017.

Dr. Billy Simbo
Dr. Billy Simbo (right) is a native of Sierra Leone, an ordained United Brethren minister, and was the first Sierra Leonean to carry the title of “bishop.” This is written in memory of June Brown, a UB missionary who died on June 4, 2020.

I cannot remember the first time I met Miss June Brown in Sierra Leone. But we have had a relationship in ministry and friendship for over half a century. You will notice that my tribute is to Mama Brown. For those of us born and raised in Sierra Leone, that is a title of great respect. It is a tribute to June Brown that her students in Sierra Leone referred to her officially as “Miss Brown,” then she affectionately became “Mama Brown.”

Mama Brown was unique as a missionary. She went to great lengths to learn the Mende culture and went out of her way to help the people in the communities in which she served. I appreciated the times we would sit and talk, or she would consult me about cultural things so she would increase her understanding and effectiveness. She was well known for her hunting skills, and students and town people could count on her bringing home meat from her trips. Kids got to know goodies were coming when her faithful VW Bug came roaring down the road after each hunting trip.

Mama Brown was kind and respectful. When she first came to Sierra Leone, I was in my first year of Secondary School. As she watched me grow and become a minister of the Gospel, she encouraged me and made me feel like my opinions mattered. I remembered a conversation I had with her when I was asked to go back to Sierra Leone to become head of the Sierra Leone Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. She knew of the turmoil the denomination was going through, but she said to me, “Oh, Billy, they need someone like you right now!”

In my 50-plus years of ministry, I have met many missionaries, but few have left their mark on our nation like June Brown did. Even after she came home and retired from missionary work in Sierra Leone, her heart was still in Sierra Leone, and the people of Sierra Leone were never far from her heart and feelings.

My last memory of our getting together was when a whole group of us surprised her at her home just outside Chambersburg, Pa. We drove in a convoy of cars from Lancaster, where we had been attending conference. She greeted us all in Mende. There were pots of cooked Sierra Leonean dishes, joyous laughter and fellowship, and she kept saying, “Oh, my!” It was a pleasant surprise, and we all had a great time. It was as if we had all gone to see a friend, mentor, and relative we had not seen for some time.

Sierra Leone will miss Mama June Brown, but what she did for us will never be forgotten. We say thank you to her home church, King Street UB Church, and her family for sharing her with us. She leaves behind many spiritual children and grandchildren who would not be where they are today without Mama June Brown’s influence and investment. Now there is one more person to look forward to meeting on the other side!

Mama June Brown, Ma lɔ hue! (Mama Brown, Goodbye!)