BROWNE, MARY KENDALL "BROWNIE" (3 June 1891-19 Aug. 1971), championship golfer and tennis player, was born in Ventura County, California, the daughter of Albert William and Neotia Rice Browne and attended high school in Los Angeles. Only 5 ft., 2 in. she learned the man's all-court tennis game from her brother Nat, and developed into a sound shot maker and an aggressive player. In a memorable athletic career, Browne was three times national singles champion (1912-1914), five times ladies doubles champion, and twice captain of the U. S. Wightman Cup team. She joined the first professional tennis tour 1926-27, and was one of the first women enshrined in the Tennis Hall of Fame. In the early 1930s Browne operated a sporting goods store in Cleveland and was an insurance agent with Wilson McBride & Co. She won the Cleveland Women's Amateur Championship four times (1931-32-34 -35) and was Ohio Women's titlist three times. A resident of Waite Hill, Browne was a part-time tennis instructor at Lake Erie College 1930-41 and a physical education instructor at the College 1945-51. She was a self-taught artist who received commissions to paint portraits of Clevelanders, including one of Mrs. George I. Vail. During WORLD WAR II, she served with the American Red Cross at General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Australia.
Browne married Dr. Kenneth Smith in 1958. Subsequently they divorced, and she returned to southern California. She died at Laguna Hills and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.