Bobby James Brown

Bobby James Brown was born September 8, 1934 to Jimmie and Rose Ann Brown in Bonham, Texas. The family lived in Bonham but also in California in the San Francisco area during the 2nd world war while his father and mother worked on airplanes for the war effort. They also lived in Dallas when he was a child, but returned to Bonham and he was a graduate of Bonham High School in 1953. After graduation, he returned to Dallas where he was a milkman with the Borden Milk Company for a short time.

Bobby enlisted in the United States Marine Corp in 1953 and served in radio intelligence from 1954 to 1957 and in the US Marines Corp Reserve through 1962. While in North Carolina with the Marines, Bobby met and married Betty Jo Clewis in 1957 and they moved to Nashville, Tennessee. There in Nashville, Bobby attended the Nashville Auto Diesel College and worked as a paint/body repairman, but soon found that he was more interested in business and bookkeeping.

Bobby moved his family to Sherman, Texas in 1958 and he was employed by Sooner Oil Company of Texas as a bookkeeper. From 1958 through 1975, he worked in general management, accounting, and computer operations for retail and wholesale operations in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana and much in the Dallas-Ft Worth Area. He was Secretary-Treasurer and Director of Gary Industries, Inc., Gary Land & Cattle Co., Texoma Rodeo Company, SOCO, Inc. Sooner Stations, Inc., Sooner Oil Co. of Oklahoma, Sooner Oil & Gas Company, and Sooner Express Inc., and for many years was Executive Vice President of Sooner Oil Co. of Texas.

In April 1975, Bobby left Sooner to continue his father’s construction business of Brown Lumber Company. He built 22 houses in Fannin County while going back to college and working on his accounting degree. He concurrently attended Grayson County College and East Texas State University and graduated from Grayson County College in 1977 with an Associate of Business Administration and from East Texas State University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Business Administration. In recent years he was honored at ETSU as an outstanding alumni. Bobby took the exam for Certified Public Accountant in 1978 and passed all of it the first time with high marks. He opened his CPA firm in the Barrett Building in downtown Denison in 1979.

Bobby had many interests and stayed active all of his life. Traveling was always a big interest for him and he made sure to take his family of six on camping vacations every year for 3 weeks at a time. They traveled through almost 30 states and parts of Canada and Mexico on their adventures together and throughout all of these trips, he was sure to include one of his other big hobbies – photography. Bobby always had his camera around his neck and took pictures of everything. This hobby continued throughout his life and the change from film to digital just meant he could take more pictures than ever. From the family vacations over the years, he amassed a collection of over 17,000 slides. Since the change to digital, he added many thousands more pictures from all over the world to his collection. Bobby was always happy to give you a tour of the travels through his collection and a ‘slide show’ was a big event with the family.

Eventually, Bobby traveled all fifty of the United States, and to almost 50 countries around the world. He was a terrific adventurer and not afraid to go anywhere. If he got into a jam, he’d just figure a way out of it. Once he was inadvertently caught up in a civil uprising in Jamaica and managed to talk his way through roadblocks and threats of harm and get a whole group of tourists back to their resort safely. While traveling in Europe, he’d strike out on his own hike and picture-taking adventure, telling the others “if I miss the boat, don’t worry about me, I’ll find my way to the next port and you can pick me up there.” He held an international driver’s license. He liked to fly to one country, rent a car and drive through many countries, then get on a ship and go somewhere else, then fly out of a different country. He already had another trip booked for this summer and also had plans for the next trip after that.

Flying was also a great hobby of Bobby’s. He took flying lessons in Sherman and received his Pilot License in 1965. He owned his own Cherokee 180 airplane and traveled to many more adventures flying his own plane. He almost made fifty years of flying. He was an active member of the local Experimental Aircraft Association and gave many children their first flight in an airplane through their Young Eagles Program. He was an instrument rated pilot and loved to take anyone flying that wanted to go.

Bobby had so many hobbies. He enjoyed everything. Besides being a pilot and world traveler, he was a certified scuba diver. He also enjoyed stamp collecting and the history that goes along with it. He had a huge stamp collection that he had started very early in life. He became very involved with the Boy Scouts of America. He and his son, James, made many camping trips and memories with Scouts and he enjoyed the trip to Philmont during that time. Over the many years in Scouts, he served as Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Council Treasurer, and was a director on the board of the local Boy Scouts of America Texoma Valley Council. He received numerous scouting awards throughout his years in working with Troop 605 and Texoma Valley Council.

Bobby was inducted to the Rotary Club of Denison in 1970, sponsored by Jerdy Gary of Sooner Oil Co. Bobby was a Past President and Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary and was a member for 42 years. He attended the Rotary meeting on Thursday, March 15th.

Bobby was very active in the community. He was a member of many organizations and served as an officer and director many times. In 1981, his daughter, Veronica, came to work with him in the Barrett Building and in 1999, they formed the partnership CPA firm of Brown & Davis, LLP. He still worked full time in this business with his daughter.

Bobby and his wife Betty had four children – Carrie, Marie, Veronica (Roni), and James. He loved his family very much. Betty died in 2000, and Bobby continued to work and enjoy his family and hobbies.

Life for Bobby stared anew when he met Darlene Harvey in Richardson. Their common interests in travel and adventure led them to be married June 15, 2002. They had a wonderful ten years seeing the world and building a home together. Family get-togethers and involvement in many organizations was a great source of pleasure for them. Photos of them dancing the night away at local events were common in the newspapers. Travel for them included everything from riding elephants in Thailand to zip-lining in Costa Rica to enjoying the gondolas of Venice.

Bobby was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Betty Brown, and his daughter Carrie Hicks.

Surviving him are his wife, Darlene Brown, son James Brown of Denison, daughter Marie Hall & her husband Ronnie of Longview, Texas, daughter Roni Davis and her husband Ricky of Denison, stepson Todd Harvey and wife Laura of Rowlett, and stepson Eric Harvey of Denison. Also he had seven grandchildren, four step-grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Bobby was a member and officer of Waples Methodist Church, on the Board of Trustees of Grayson County College, a member of the Texoma Detachment #929 Marine Corps League, Marines’ Memorial Association, Denison Rotary Club (past president), Experimental Aircraft Association, a Master Mason of the Masonic Lodge, Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, past President of Denison Chamber of Commerce, past President of Denison Community Investment Corporation, past President of the Yellow Jacket Booster Club, and past Ambassador for Texas A&M –Commerce (East Texas State University), Past Director of Grayson County Retail Merchants Association, and membership and officer capacities in organizations too numerous to mention.

The family will be at Bratcher Funeral Home for visitation from 6:00 – 8:00 P.M., Monday, March 19, 2012. Funeral service will be at 10:00 A.M., Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at Waples Memorial United Methodist Church, 830 W. Main St., Denison, TX 75020. Burial will be 12 noon at Arledge Ridge Cemetery on highway 78, five miles south of Bonham, Texas.

Arrangements are entrusted to Bratcher Funeral Home, 401 W. Woodard St., Denison, TX 75020 (903) 465-2323. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.bratcherfuneralhome.com.