Arlene Ruth (Robinson) Brown was born January 13, 1933, in Akron, Ohio. She was the eighth of ten children born to Edward G. Robinson and Emily (Martin) Robinson.
Arlene, affectionately known as Lena, grew up in East Akron and attended Akron Public Schools. She graduated from East High School in 1951, where she was Homecoming Queen.
After high school, Arlene moved to Dayton, Ohio, where she met and married Jesse Brown. To their union four children were born. While in Dayton, she worked at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Later, she and her children moved back to Akron, Ohio, where she gained employment as a contract administrator at Goodyear Aerospace, now Aircraft Braking Systems and retired from there. In the mid 1960’s, Arlene gave her heart to the Lord at the Robert Street Church of God, now the Arlington Church of God. She had a beautiful voice and loved to sing. Arlene sang alto in the Chancel Choir for many years. She loved the old hymns. She also sang with the Ladies Ensemble, a group of women selected by Sis. Cleo Myricks that traveled and sang Christian music around the country.
In addition to raising her children, Arlene also raised three of her grandchildren, Dawn, Ruben, and Deidra Brown.
Arlene loved to play and watch tennis. She also loved to travel, shop, and eat out at restaurants, so much that she started two clubs that mostly went out to eat together. One was the Birthday Club, made up of her sisters, two cousins, friends, and her goddaughter. The other was a Red Hat Society club that consisted of friends from church. Arlene traveled to many places, but her favorite place to go was West Middlesex, Pennsylvania for camp meeting. She and her sisters worked in the Lunch Stand, a concession stand that provided meals, sandwiches and desserts for camp meeting goers. They worked there for many years and enjoyed the fellowship with the saints that came from across the country.
Arlene was also very stylish. She was creative and made jewelry and adorned t-shirts. She became quite an entrepreneur, selling the things she made and eventually added clothes and purses to her inventory. Later she even opened a store with a friend, Hattie Smith, in Wooster-Hawkins Plaza. Arlene left this world from home, where she lived with her son and daughter-in-law, Eric and Patricia (Dolly) Brown on December 31, 2025.
She was preceded in death by her parents, three sisters and six brothers.
She will be missed by her daughters, Patrice Brown, LaJuanna Bluntt, sons, Keith Anthony Brown, and Eric Cortez (Patricia) Brown; 13 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren.
Visitation will be held on Sunday, January 11, 2026, from 4:00 pm until 6:00 pm at Sommerville Funeral Services, 1695 Diagonal Rd. Akron, Oh 44320. Visitation will also be held on Monday, January 12, 2026, from 10:00 am until 11:00 am at Arlington Church of God, 539 S. Arlington Church of God, Akron, Oh 44306. Funeral service will immediately follow. Internment Mount Peace Cemetery.