THE REV. WILLIAM MERRITT BROWN, 88, of 16837 Hampton Road, Williamsport, Maryland, died on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at Homewood Nursing Home in Williamsport. Born March 2, 1919 in Deposit, New York, he was the son of the late William Merritt and Jean P. Kisor Brown. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the European Theater with the U. S. Army. He graduated from Wittenberg College in 1948, and the Hamma Divinity School in 1949 with a Masters of Divinity. He was ordained as a Lutheran minister in 1949. He served as pastor at churches in Casstown, Ohio, Baltimore, Maryland, Woodsboro, Maryland, and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and was pastor for twenty-one years at the Myersville Lutheran Parish, retiring in 1984. He was a member of the American Legion, Funkstown Post 211, and past member of the Myersville Lions Club. He participated as a volunteer in the National Longitudinal Institute of Health study on aging. He was a Red Cross blood donor. He is survived by his wife of sixty-one years, Madge Glover Brown; one daughter, Ruth M. Brown of Washington, D. C. ; one son, Stuart C. Brown of Keedysville, Maryland; and four step-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two sisters, Ruth S. VanDeusen, Elizabeth R. Taylor; and one son, David Ward Brown. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a. m. Saturday, March 24, 2007 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 24 East Baltimore Street, Funkstown, Maryland. Rev. Darrell L. Layman, and Rev. Eleanor Doub will officiate. Burial will be at the convenience of the family. There will be no viewing. Family requests omission of flowers, and donations to St. Paul's Lutheran Church, P. O. Box 148, Funkstown, Maryland 21734.