Dr. Aletha Diane Brown

Dr. Aletha Diane Stokes Brown, 80, of Spartanburg, SC passed away on Saturday, May 3, 2025. She was born in Ridgeland, SC on September 27, 1944, to the late David Spencer Stokes, Sr. and Aletha Fahrnease Bennett Stokes.

Diane graduated from Winnsboro High School where she was an Honor student, a cheerleader, and FFA Sweetheart. She graduated from Winthrop College where she was PI DELTA PHI in French and SIGMA EPISILON KAPPA for English. She was a proud member of MENSA and May Queen at Winthrop College. She worked in Spartanburg County School District at Dorman High School and NC Cleveland County Schools at Crest High School as a distinguished teacher of mainly English and French. She was called by her French class students "Doctor Madame" and by others at the school as "Doctor Brown." She went on to earn a PHD in Education from the University of South Carolina. She was very proud of her hard-earned education and was a "mother" to all her students.

Her sisters and brothers looked up to her as their “mother.” As the eldest in a large family, she bore the responsibility of caring for them, a role she embraced in their hometown of Winnsboro, South Carolina.

She leaves behind beloved sisters and brothers, (in-laws were always considered beloved brothers and sisters); Carolyn Stokes West (Melvin), Deborah Stokes Sherer, Jeanne Stokes Ramsey (Charles), David Spencer Stokes, Jr. (deceased), Jeffrey Charles Stokes (Laurie), Rodney Hebron Stokes (Jay). And beloved nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her beloved son, Kevin Randall Brown.

Her family would like to offer a special thank you to the wonderful doctors and especially the nurses who lovingly cared for her at Spartanburg Regional Hospital and Hospice.

Diane requested no flowers nor memorials, but only that those who knew and loved her would take time to remember a moment when she was special in their life and that she loved them. As Carl Sagan said, “To live in the hearts we leave behind is to live forever.” Sweet dreams in Heaven, Madame.