For more than 38 years, Constance Delores Brown was a nurturing and welcome presence for students at Richmond’s Armstrong High School, where she helped further their education and served as the Senior Class Sponsor and “Miss Armstrong” Pageant Sponsor until she retired.

“She constantly had students coming up to her with a cheery “Ms. Brown, do you remember me?” a family member wrote in her online obituary.

Ms. Brown, 84, died Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. A private funeral service for family members took place Wednesday, Feb. 7, at Vincent Funeral Home in West Point, according to her online obituary.

Born on March 10, 1939, in Richmond to Edward L. Brown and Marinda Brown, Ms. Brown attended Richmond Public Schools where she excelled in music. Her love for singing began in the church choir at Second Baptist Church-Richmond.

As a junior in high school, she was an “invited traveling” member of the Virginia Union University Chorus.

After graduating in 1956 from Maggie L. Walker High School, she enrolled at Virginia Union University where she earned her bachelor’s in sociology. Ms. Brown later received her degree and certificate in education from Virginia Commonwealth University.

She went on to teach English at Central High School in the King and Queen County Public Schools system. At the same time, she dedicated her time, love of music and ministry to Mt. Nebo Baptist Church in West Point with John Horace Lee. During her tenure there, this “singing-piano playing duo” began planning weddings and concerts. In 1975, she brought her teaching skills to Richmond Public Schools.

Outside of her professional work, Ms. Brown was a long-time member of the National Drifters, where she served as national president, vice president and national membership chair and convention planner.

Ms. Brown is survived by her sister, Marinda A. Brown, niece Linda Brown-Nick, special cousins Jacquelin “Cookie” Brockington and the Rev. Gloria Lucas, a host of nieces and nephews in the Brown, Lee and White families, and her godchildren.