Marianne Brown of Tryon died peacefully on Sunday, August 4, 2013 at White Oak Manor, in the loving care of Hospice.

She was born Jan. 18, 1923 in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of Alice Schlicklin Brown and Huston Brown.

She worked in New York City at New Directions Publishing, Muzak Corporation and Columbia Records. She studied voice in New York then continued her studies in Dusseldorf and Paris. She then lived four years in Ireland before returning to the United States.

She moved to Tryon in 1979 where she became very active in the Tryon Little Theater, directing several plays, including The Miracle Worker and The Lion in Winter, as well as appearing in several others. She was also choir director at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church for about 25 years.

She is survived by her step-mother and dear friend, Audrey Klatte, and Audrey’s sister Hazel Graff, as well as by numerous loving nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday Aug. 8, 2013 in St. John’s Catholic Church, Tryon, with Father John Eckert officiating.

A reception will immediately follow the service in St. John’s social hall.

Memorials may be made to the Tryon Little Theater, 516 S. Trade St. Tryon, N.C. 28782; St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 180 Laurel Ave. Tryon, N.C. 28782; or to Hospice of the Carolina Foothills, 130 Forest Glen Dr. Columbus, N.C. 28722.

An online guest register is available at www.mcfarlandfuneralchapel.com