Alice Y. Browning

Alice Browning, 85, died on September 10, 2025, at Piedmont Hospital in Athens, Georgia.

Born August 23, 1940, in Joliet, Illinois, she was the daughter of Darst and Gail Yant. Alice grew up in Gillespie, Illinois alongside her sister Dorothy where she capably accepted many family responsibilities due to the loss of their parents at a young age. She excelled academically, graduating as valedictorian of her high school class and earning recognition as a National Merit Scholar. During high school, she also served as Grand Chaplain of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, a role that reflected her early dedication to faith and service.

Alice began dating Barton Browning while in high school — he lived in the next town over. Despite going to separate universities, their relationship continued throughout college. In 1963 Alice graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from DePauw University and briefly taught school in Carlinville, Illinois. Alice and Barton married in 1964 and moved to California where Barton was completing his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1969, Barton accepted a professorship in the German Department at Penn State. They moved to State College, Pennsylvania and made a lifelong home.

Alice was a substitute teacher in the State College Area School District for almost 30 years. She was deeply engaged in the community, serving as President of the University Women’s Club, President of the local United Methodist Women, a member of P.E.O. International, and a long-time participant in Dinners for 8. She was also an avid bridge player, known for her quick mind and competitive spirit

An artist at heart, Alice almost always had a paintbrush or sketchbook nearby. Alice explored many painting styles and excelled in German Folk painting or Bauernmalerei, a form she learned in Germany where the family lived during Barton’s 1979 teaching sabbatical.

For more than 50 years, Alice participated faithfully in the ministries of Park Forest Village United Methodist Church and enjoyed the deep friendships she made there. She held various leadership roles, taught Sunday School and VBS, sang in the choir - her voice often harmonizing beside Barton’s baritone - and contributed to the church’s fundraising and charitable activities most memorably the annual church Bazaar.

Alice and Barton traveled extensively, but she always felt there was “no place like home.” Alice was an exceptional homemaker, devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and sister. She is survived by her daughter, Sarah Wolfe (Husband, Dodd), her son George (Wife, Charlene), her grandchildren, Emily Wolfe (engaged to Ivan Campbell) and Alex Wolfe (engaged to Elena Castro), and her sister Dorothy Gillet-Yant (Husband, Georges). She was preceded in death by Barton, her husband of 57 years, who always said she “meant the world to him.”

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, September 14, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. at Faith Presbyterian Church in Watkinsville, Georgia. A graveside service will follow at Bethel Ridge Cemetery in Atwater, Illinois, on Saturday, September 20, 2025. A remembrance ceremony will also be held this fall at Park Forest Village United Methodist Church in State College, Pennsylvania.

Memorial contributions may be made to Park Forest Village United Methodist Church, 1833 Park Forest Avenue, State College, PA 16803.

Lord and Stephens Funeral Home, WEST, Watkinsville, GA is in charge of arrangements. www.lordandstephens.com