Kenton John Brown

Our father, Kenton Brown, passed away peacefully on Sunday morning October 20, 2013. He was 88. He was born to Elizabeth (Sontag) and James C. Brown on East Dayton Street in Madison, WI. He was an only child and first went to East High School and completed high school at Edgewood in Madison. He received a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin and worked at Forest Products Laboratory, the Beloit Corporation and International Paper Company, where he retired as director of research in Mobile, Alabama. He and our mother, Elizabeth ‘Betty’ (Carpenter) Brown were married on October 14, 1950 in Madison. Together they raised five children: Sheila Brown Reed, Thomas (Kim) Brown, Laurie Brown (George Denliker), James Brown, and Julie Brown (Curtis Marquis). They have a grandchild, Thomas Jordan (TJ) Brown.

Dad was a man of many talents, he was an accomplished classical and jazz pianist, giving solo concerts while still in Madison, and made many of his own arrangements and produced CDs of his music. He was in track and field in college and continued to run for exercise, joining 5 and 10K races. He played golf and tennis. He was an accomplished architect and designed and built our first house in Madison. He later designed our wonderful house in Rockford, Illinois, and helped to design their two houses in Sarasota, Florida. Dad held several patents for wood processing equipment and for pulping and bleaching processes. He also loved photography and published many photos in the family newsletter, “The Brown Bugle”, in years of issues which we all treasure. Dad loved to take us on trips as we grew up and he planned special events and games to keep us entertained on long drives. He loved to go camping and we had many camping vacations. After Dad’s retirement, our parents traveled extensively and especially enjoyed cruises all over the world. Dad was a very devout Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He supported the construction of a church community center at St. Thomas Moore in Sarasota, Florida, where they lived for 20 years. When Mom could no longer drive, he took her to choir practice every week so that she could sing in the choir.

A memorial mass and service will be held at St. Joseph’s Church in Jacksonville, on Thursday, October 24th.

We would like to thank all of the relatives and friends who kept in touch and thank the staff of Emeritus Assisted Living in Jacksonville and all the caretakers who helped Dad. Our mother Betty will continue to live in Jacksonville.

Thanks so much, Dad, for all that you did for us, we will miss you very much.