Edward Lee Brown

Ed was born February 2, 1937, in Connersville, Indiana to parents Wallace F, and Ruth P. Brown. He graduated from Connersville H.S. in Connersville, Indiana in June 1955, and then attended Butler University from 1955-1957, and I.U. Extension in 1957. He earned his way by working as a clerk at The Camera Shop and as an apprentice pharmacist at a Haag Drug Store in Indianapolis. He also supplemented that income by occasionally taking wedding pictures and operating movie projectors at private service clubs in the Indianapolis area.

Ed is survived by; three children– Ruth (Troy) Moore, Margie Anderson, and Mike Brown; six grandchildren – Michael Moore, Paul Moore, Derek Brown, David Brown, Chanda Rautenkranz, Brent Anderson; and 14 great-grandchildren – Charlotte Moore, Theodore Moore, Skylynn Cookenour, Annabelle Moore, Maddy Brown, Delilah Brown, Zayden Brown, Dominic Brown, David Brown, Caden Rautenkranz, Marina Rautenkranz, Braxton Anderson, and Trevon Anderson.

Ed joined the U.S. Navy in October 1958 and through October 1962. He attended Basic Electricity and Electronics School at the U.S. Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, Illinois, and then attended Nuclear Weapons Training Center at Sandia Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he graduated in July 1959. He was a 'Nuclear Weapons Assemble Supervisor' aboard the aircraft carriers U.S.S. Intrepid CVA-l l and U.S.S. Constellation CVA-64 serving on the U.S. East Coast, Caribbean, and Mediterranean areas. During his four-year term of service, he visited 20 different countries and attended the Olympics in Rome in 1960. He was also involved in the 'Bay of Pigs Invasion' of Cuba. He was honorably discharged in October 1962.

Following his time in the U.S. Navy, Ed attended and graduated from The Academy of Applied Machine Accounting in 1962 - 1963, a school on wiring and operating IBM unit-record and computer equipment and returned to college on several occasions to extend his college education. He worked in Data Processing (Information Technology) for 32 years, 27 of which were at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance in Indianapolis. He accepted an early retirement offer from Anthem Insurance in November 1995; retiring as 'Director of New Development Projects and Research of New Technologies'. Following his retirement from Anthem, he did project management consulting work for one year and then started a technology consulting business that was very successful. In October 1998 he suffered a heart attack and he retired from the company. In January of 1999, he had a second cardiac surgery and due to complications of the second surgery in early 1999, he got a severe lung infection from pneumonia and lost some of his lung capacity.

Following his recovery from open-heart surgery, in 1999, he studied music with Pat Michael, who was a professional guitarist, and for many years and had his own dance band. He and Pat worked together for five years and then with help from Pat, Ed wrote and published a book on Music Theory for Guitar titled 'Guitar Star'. Ed enjoyed playing guitar and doing musical arrangements for the old standards that Pat loved to play. Ed also enjoyed playing golf, photography, taking care of things around the house, and reading extensively. But most of all, he enjoyed his family, especially his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He especially loved their visits and discussions. He also enjoyed the many family gatherings and dinners that he often hosted.

One of his greatest regrets was that he never finished his college degree work, but he never stopped studying scientific topics like quantum physics, astronomy, and electronics as well as some of the more esoteric cosmology sciences.

He had cardiac surgery on four occasions throughout his life. Then in 2019, he was diagnosed with diabetes and an asbestos infection in his lungs. This infection had laid dormant for nearly 60 years and was due to a major shipboard fire while serving in the Navy in 1961. The Navy put him on total disability in 2021. As a result of the asbestos infection, he had chest pain for the rest of his life, and he also had chronic back pain due to five herniated discs. He had to limit his physical activity for the remainder of his life. He had to give up nearly all physical activities.

He left his family a message as follows:

"Just remember, I may have passed but I am always near and looking out for you, my family. I love you all so very much."