The death occurred peacefully with family around her at Clinton View Lodge, in Clinton, PEI, Saturday, July 25th, 2026, of Eileen Elizabeth Brown (née Praught), formerly of Richmond, PEI, at the age of 99.

Eileen was born in Richmond, PEI, Dec. 2nd, 1926, to parents Clement and Elizabeth (née Gillis) Praught. She is predeceased by her loving husband Raymond Brown (veteran of WWII), and siblings Jack Smith, Edward, Theresa Holmes, Basil, and in-laws Larry Holmes, and Ray’s brothers Victor, Jim, Desmond, and Ted, also sisters Joan, Velma, Mary, Betty and Lillian.

Her 10 children will miss her greatly: Raymond (Bernie), Liz (Reg) MacDonald, Tom (Kelly), Peter (Muriel), Andy, Philip (Carol), Matthew (Treva), Bart (Cindy), Paul (Darla), and Peggie (David) Corney. Eileen is loved and missed as well by 50 grandchildren and 86 great-grandchildren (and counting). Also survived by sister-in-law Iris Raulick and special niece Donna Pedati.

Resting at East Prince Funeral Home, 245 Pope Road, Summerside.  Visiting hours on Wednesday, July 29th, 2026 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm.  Funeral Mass at Immaculate Conception, Richmond on Thursday, July 30th, 2026 at 10:30 am.  Eileen will be laid to rest with her beloved husband Ray at Immaculate Conception Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations to the day care of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Summerside, PEI would be appreciated. 

Online donations can be sent to: sacredheartpei@gmail.com.  Cheques or donations can be sent to Sacred Heart Sisters 403 Granville St, Summerside, PE, Canada C1N 3C4.

As a girl, Eileen spent her winters in Summerside at the Fernwood Lodge managed by her parents Clement (a veteran of both world wars) and Elizabeth Praught, where they rented rooms to guests. The Praughts spent summers at their family farm in Richmond. After her school-aged years at Notre Dame Convent in Summerside, she would take a job at a Summerside bank.

Eileen began courting Ray on his return from the war, and they were married on June 11, 1947, at Immaculate Conception Parish in Wellington. Ray had prayed he would make it home to find a wife, have a family, and open a business, and so he built a grocery store in Richmond. Early in their relationship, Eileen thought the new building would make a great dance hall. The first two of their children were born while the family lived in an apartment over the store. The couple soon built a small house nearby where they lived as they grew their young family, and where their son Tom would live with his family years later.

The dining room in the little house was already being used as a bedroom when baby eight was coming, so Ray and Eileen moved their crew out to the Praught farm, fixing up the place and building barns to start a pig farm Ray would work until retirement. Life was full as the children became teenagers, but family dinners were important, evening rosaries were regular, first Fridays were marked, and Sunday Mass wasn’t to be missed. The store would be converted to a Handy Andy auto parts store by their eldest son Raymond, while a few of the other boys, Tom, Andy and Philip, would work alongside Ray and eventually take over the farm.

Eileen was an active member of the community of Richmond and Immaculate Conception Parish, working with the Catholic Women’s League, the Cursillo Movement, teaching Sunday school, bringing swimming lessons to the Richmond area, and opening and running a charity thrift shop over the rink in Richmond. The couple made three pilgrimages to the site of Marian apparitions at Medjugorje in Bosnia. As a member of the Richmond chapter of the PEI Women’s Institute, she worked compiling a history of Richmond. Eileen was also a regular contributor to the Journal Pioneer newspaper’s Letters to the Editor section, where she covered issues of the day as they related to women and family, good treatment of others, and her views on what was right and wrong as a Christian. When Eileen was done having her own 10 children, Ray and Eileen welcomed foster children into their home.

As a mother, Eileen instilled in her children a strong work ethic and civic duty, and they went on to work as entrepreneurs and business owners, politicians, public servants, and in tourism, agriculture, fisheries, and in the trades. The Brown children also raised their own busy families, with 50 first cousins calling Ray and Eileen Grandaddy and Grammie Brown.

In Bayside, where Ray was from, Peter and the boys built a cottage on the Grand River. This became a place where the grown children would gather and bring their children for bonfires. And where Ray would settle in for a game of crib after golfing with Paul. The cottage was simple but cozy thanks to Eileen’s touch as a homemaker. Their son Bart, having moved to the mainland in Nova Scotia, would take over the cottage to bring the kids back for island summers.

The Browns always gather on the Sunday following Christmas for an annual potluck reunion on the feast of the Holy Family. After the clan became too large for the party to be hosted in a home, this event moved on to community centres. Every year there would be music, and the special appearance of a set of paper Christmas serviettes printed with carol choruses. The napkins became a loved tradition. In summer, when the crew came together for Ray’s birthday, everyone knew to chime in for the singing of “Jolly Good Fellow.” Nothing lit up Eileen more than hearing her family play and sing.

As a grandmother, Eileen was ahead of the times with her Montessori toys, and her grandchildren will remember a green velvet toy box filled with wooden blocks and Tupperware dishes for tactile play by little hands. When the girls came to visit, she pulled out a special box of dolls with beautiful clothing. There were many memorable sleepovers in Richmond for the grandkids, on the pull-out sofa, in the camper in the yard, or in “Peggie’s room.” And for breakfast, Grammie Brown would always serve her favourite treat, Florida oranges. Eileen was never much focused on physical things, but she knew how to value simple joys. She shared this practice of gratitude with her grandkids during little moments, singing hymns at church, splitting cookies at the kitchen table, or sitting outside on the bench swing made for two. When each of her grandchildren turned 16, Eileen would gift them with a scrapbook—as she had done for her own children—filled with saved childhood drawings, birthday cards, photos from baptisms and first communions, news clippings from children’s sports and music events, and prayers she would have wanted them to know by heart.

Ray and Eileen lived in their home in Richmond for many years. Peter and Muriel converted the homestead to act as a duplex, raising five children there with their grandparents next door. During this time, Ray and Eileen spent their winters in Florida visiting with their sisters. Later, the couple moved to a new home in Summerside, built for them by their son Matthew right next door to their youngest, Peggie. And Paul was a regular visitor, helping with affairs. Downsizing again, they moved to a senior’s living apartment where Eileen would live after her husband’s passing, through the COVID years. This was a lonely time for Eileen, and she was overjoyed to move back to Richmond in 2022 to the home of her son Philip and daughter-in-law Carol, where she had regular company from her family. She dearly missed her son living farthest away and was always by the phone for her Saturday call from Andy out west.

In these final years, Eileen focused her efforts on family and prayer. Unable to attend mass, she received the Eucharist at home. Together, Ray and Eileen upheld their family consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And following a lifelong devotion to the Blessed Mother, everyone knew that Mary listened to Eileen, who offered many rosaries for her children and grandchildren.

She had two treasured belongings: a large family tree made by her daughter-in-law Treva for their 50th wedding anniversary and updated regularly, and the second was a lettered embroidery piece made by her daughter Liz with this Bible verse:

“Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Are you not of much more value than these? Therefore, do not be anxious about your life, but seek first the Kingdom of God and his Goodness, and all these things will be yours as well.” – Matthew 6:25-33

Eileen’s family want to thank the loving staff of Clinton View Lodge for their wonderful care in her final months.

And we want to thank our brother Philip and Carol for taking wonderful care of Mom in their home for 3 plus years.