Dr. Earlene Decker Brasher

Dr. Earlene Decker Brasher passed away peacefully on September 6, 2025 at a small hospital near her residence in Greenville, MS. She was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Luna Decker, her daughter Celia Kay Brasher, and her brother Dr. Joe Decker. She is survived by one daughter Dr. Julia Thorn, son-in-law Collis Thorn, step grandson Brandon Thorn, sister Jane Naish, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Earlene Decker Brasher grew up in Albertville, AL She is a graduate of Alabama College, Montevallo, Alabama, where she received the Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education. She received the Master of Sacred Music Degree from New Orleans Seminary and the Master of Music Degree from Georgia State University. Later, she received the Specialist in Education and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Dr. Earlene Brasher retired in 2002 after a forty-year career in Music Education. The last twenty-three years were spent in the DeKalb County School System in Decatur, Georgia as Coordinator of Choral Music. The remainder of her teaching career was in Alabama and Louisiana where she taught at the elementary, middle, high school and collegiate levels. Dr. Brasher was a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, under the direction of Robert Shaw, for fifteen years where she participated in local concert performances, the 1989 European Tour, Carnegie Hall performances, the 1991 Kennedy Awards Ceremony in Washington, and in various recording sessions which received Grammy nominations and awards. Earlene served as organist, soloist, and choir director in churches throughout the South and retired in 2001 from her position as Organist at Briarcliff Baptist Church in Atlanta following twenty-two years of service. An anthem, “Shout To God,” by Joseph Martin and J. Paul Williams was commissioned in her honor by the Sanctuary Choir on the occasion of her fifteenth anniversary. Professional articles by Dr. Brasher have appeared in the Georgia Music News, Missouri Music Magazine, Music for Primaries, The Church Musician, and she was a member of the writing team for the Louisiana Arts in Education Curriculum. Her dissertation, “The Contributions of Robert Shaw and The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to the Educational and Cultural Climate of Atlanta,” was completed in 1988. She was also selected in 2011 to present a paper on "Robert Shaw in Atlanta" at the Chattanooga Symposium on The History of Music Education, and gave Power Point presentations of the same in 2012 at the state convention of Alpha Delta Kappa in Augusta, GA and at the Concert Division of Atlanta Symphony Associates in Atlanta. She was a member of the Board of Directors for the Young Singers of Callanwolde and the Education Advisory Committee for the Atlanta Boy Choir. She served on the Spivey Hall Education Committee, the Program Committee for Young Audiences, Chairman of the Board for the Choral Guild of Atlanta, Vice-chairman of Concerto Division of Atlanta Symphony Associates, Georgia Music Chairman for Alpha Delta Kappa, and the Advisory Committee of the DeKalb International Choral Festival. Dr. Brasher was the recipient of five Georgia Challenge Grants for the Advancement of Arts Education in the DeKalb Schools, and in 1993 received the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts School Leadership Award for Commitment and Support of Discipline-Based Arts Education in the Southeast region. She coordinated recording groups for the Silver Burdett and Macmillan Music Education Textbook Series, was listed in the Fifth Edition of 2,000 Notable American Women, the Twelfth Edition of The World Who’s Who of Women, the 2003 edition of Who’s Who In America, and recently was placed in the Top One Hundred Registry of American Educators. In 2001 Dr. Brasher was awarded a Lifetime Service Award presented by the Georgia Music Educators Association, and in 2003 she received The Mary Clark Community Arts Award for outstanding support of the Arts in DeKalb County. In 2020, Dr. Brasher received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award for Music Education. A graveside service will be held at 11:00 on September 10, 2025 at Memory Hill Cemetery Highway 431S in Albertville, AL. The family requests no flowers, but contributions may be made to Friends of Music at First Presbyterian Church One John Calvin Circle, Greenville, MS 38701, or Friends of Music at First United Methodist Church 318 S Court Street, Cleveland, MS 38732.

Dr. Earlene Decker Brasher

May 2, 1932 - September 6, 2025