David, Martha Brown to lead Strawberry Fest Parade

The Strawberry Festival Parade begins at 11 a.m. Saturday at Belleville High School and will head up West Columbia Avenue to Five Points and then proceed down Main Street to the museum.
Leading the parade as Grand Marshals this year will be Martha and David C. Brown.
David was born in Muskegon, and graduated from Orchard View High School in 1965. He earned an associate degree in pre-Mortuary Science in 1971 and graduated from Worsham College of Mortuary Science, in Chicago in 1974. He became a licensed funeral director in Michigan in 1974 and in Illinois in 1975.
David moved to Belleville in 1974. He was employed at the Roberts Brothers Funeral Home in Belleville from 1974 to 1981, serving as manager in 1978-81.
The David C. Brown Funeral Home was established in Belleville on April 5, 1982.
David is married to Martha, and they have two daughters, Amy (Kevin) Hinks, and Shelly (Jim Chudzinski) Brown, and also three grandsons Nicholas David and Andrew Thomas Hinks and Seth Levi. One grandson, Luke Charles Willick, died Sept. 26, 2013. Amy is a Kindergarten teacher for Van Buren Public Schools at Tyler Elementary School. Shelly has been working alongside David since 1999.
David has been active in the Michigan Funeral Directors Association, MFDA affairs since 1978. He went through the District #2 chairs from 1978-1982, serving as president of District #2 in 1981-1982. He represented District #2 on the MFDA Board of Directors from 1989-1995 and served as president of the state MFDA from 1998-1999. He also served on several MFDA committees from 1978-present, currently including the MI-MORT, Mortuary Response Team for mass casualties.
David’s community activities include: four-time director of the Belleville Chamber of Commerce, Hospice of Washtenaw Spiritual and Bereavement Committee, member of the board of trustees of the Oakwood Hospital Beyer Center Foundation, Tri-County Sportsman’s Club, and current president of the Charles B. Cozaad Rotary Foundation.
He is also a member of the Central Business Community, Rotary Club (past president with perfect attendance for 26+ years), Myrtle Lodge #89 F&AM, the Moose Lodge #934, and the Van Buren Eagles Aerie #3996, all of Belleville. He served on the Belleville Downtown Development Authority for 19 years. He is a communicant at St. Anthony Catholic Church and also served there as a Minister of the Eucharist for many years. He is also an avid hunter and fisherman.
Martha Brown
Martha also was born in Muskegon and moved with her family to Belleville in 1975. Martha helped David open the funeral home in 1982, then went back to school when her girls were older, and received her Bachelor of Social Work degree from Eastern Michigan University in 1993.
In 1994, she began working at the Brown Family Center, where extensive aftercare services, pre-need counseling, monuments and markers, are offered to serve local families in an “off-premises” setting.
Martha is a social worker specializing in grief support. She received extensive training from Accord, Inc., a national association of professional counselors, and several local hospice agencies.
Martha has worked with a considerable number of individuals who have experienced the death of a loved one, and has assisted them through the grieving process either on a one-on-one basis or in a group setting.
In addition to her expertise in helping the grieving, she brings with her a sensitivity from the experience of losing a mother, a father, a brother, a nephew, and a grandson.
Martha opened Marti’s Gift Gallery in 2004. It is next to the Family Center and two blocks east of the funeral home. She enjoys taking care of her grandsons. Martha loves being outdoors, especially boating, and also traveling.