WHITE STONE—Emma Brown Fraher Mobley, 91, passed away on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, in White Stone surrounded by her family.
She was born on December 17, 1929, the eldest of four children of Lucy Jarratt Wright Fraher and Edward Shelton Fraher Sr. of Blackstone. She attended the College of William and Mary, earning a degree in psychology.
Brown had an intrepid spirit and a desire to see the world. She made her first journey around the age of six when, inspired by the Rudyard Kipling stories read to her by her mother, she attempted to run away to India.
In 1954, Brown met Edward Lee Mobley, a kindred soul who shared her passion for travel. They married that year in Paris, where Brown was employed by the U.S. Department of State. Brown and Ed spent the next 46 years in Rota, Spain; London, England; East Hampton, New York; Bogota, Colombia; Bangkok, Thailand; Singapore; Tehran, Iran; Yanbu, Saudi Arabia; Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt; Hamilton, Bermuda; and Yerevan, Armenia, before returning to Virginia.
Brown continued to live an adventurous life after Ed passed away in 2001. In her 70s, she helped build houses with Habitat for Humanity in Georgia, volunteered at a women’s center in Tanzania, and bicycled across Cuba. In her 80s, she hang-glided off Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro. In her final trip, she took her children and their families to Iceland. Brown scattered Ed’s ashes at every new place she visited.
Brown loved her books, the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle, classical music and Puccini operas. She volunteered at the Free Clinic and, ever the good citizen, picked up litter wherever she went. She was a proud liberal who wanted to make the world a better place. She advocated for a host of progressive causes and relished lively debate.
Raised a Baptist, Brown explored other religions and beliefs. She found a spiritual home in White Stone as one of the earliest members of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Rappahannock.
She is survived by her daughters Anne-Shelton Mobley Aaron of Geneva, Switzerland; Taylor Lee Mobley (Eric Liang Jensen) of Fredericksburg; and Lucy Wright Mobley (Norman Turner) of Richmond; her five grandchildren, Marc-Edouard Leon of Los Angeles; Kai Liang Jensen of Fredericksburg; Harper Brown Jensen of New York City; Gabriel Shelton Aaron of Manassas; and Emma-Louise Aaron of Lausanne, Switzerland; and her siblings, Edward Shelton Fraher Jr. (Martha), Betty-Wright Fraher Armbruster (Bill) and Otho Clement Wright Fraher (Ada).
A celebration of life was held on September 25. Memorial contributions may be made to any organization helping refugees or to the Northern Neck-Middlesex Free Health Clinic.
