Marie Franklin-Brown

Marie Dukes Franklin-Brown, 89, of Little Rock died peacefully on Thursday, January 12, 2017, at Arkansas Hospice Little Rock. She was a retiree of UAMS and PCSSD and a seventy-year member of First Baptist Church 811 S.A. Jones NLR., Ark. There she served as Church Clerk, Usher, and remained active & devoted to the Sunday School, Mission Ministry, and NLR City Mission and studied for twenty-three years with the Women of the Community Bible Study in Little Rock. Preceded in death by her parents, Rev. Edmond Dukes and Ann Johnson-Dukes; step-mother, Willie G. Thomas-Dukes; brother, Louis Dukes; sons, Floyd and Lloyd Franklin; daughter, JoAnn Franklin Gray, and Husband Nathaniel Brown. Cherishing her memory are, daughter, Linda K. Gray-Little Rock, Ark. ; grandsons, Mark D. Gray, Sr., Little Rock, Ark. , and Lehman Gray, Harvey, Ill; granddaughters, Nina C. Gray, Maumelle, Ark. , Tishua (Henry) Rosado, Longview, Texas and Cassaundra D. Gray, Ft Worth Texas; brother, Reverend Earnest Dukes (Dorothy) Florissant, Missouri; sisters, Alice Parker of Gary, Indiana and Verma J. Farrish of San Jose, California, and a host of great-grandchildren and a number of other relatives and close friends. Visitation will be Friday, January 20, 2017, 6-7 p.m., at First Baptist 811 S.A. Jones Dr. NLR, Ark. Celebration of Life Saturday, January 21, 2017, at 11 am, Pastor William L. Robinson, officiating. Services entrusted to: Ruffin & Jarrett Funeral Home, 1200 Chester Street, LR (501) 372-1305. "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalms 73:26.