Jack Howard Brown

Jack Howard Brown was a character. If you ever met him, you would have remembered him as he was that type of guy. He died this past Saturday, July 27th, in his own bed surrounded by his three sons whom loved him well. As for Jack....he wouldn’t have had it any other way. He was 97-years-old but the truth is he was in good shape. As he often used to say, “Nothing wrong with me! Just getting old that’s all.” But Jack wasn’t always old and he lived a fantastically wonderful life; any of us should be so lucky to have a life like his.

He was born in Painesville, Ohio on July 11, 1916 to a family of coal miners. He was one of six children. His mother died when he was young and his aunts stepped in to help raise him and his brothers and sister. At the height of the depression, Jack found odd jobs including working in coal mines and steel mills. By any account he was a hard worker and when the Second Great World War broke out, he didn’t wait around to get drafted, he enlisted as he felt it was his duty. He was placed in the 756th Tank Battalion attached to the Third Division under General Patton. He fought in Europe for four years and eventually became a tank commander. Like any WW II Vet, Jack Brown had harrowing experiences in war and defied the unspeakable odds and came home from the war...not only alive but uninjured. I often wonder what he would have said as he sat shivering and scared in the tank in the cold black night if you would have told him, “It’ll be okay. You’ll die an old man in your own bed surrounded by your loved ones.” Knowing him, he likely would have laughed and cracked a joke. He was so funny.

He came back from the war and decided to visit his sister who lived in Miami, Oklahoma and it was this state that became his home. It was also there that he met his wife, Marianna (Ann). A lovely, quiet farm girl from Missouri, they dated for only two weeks before he proposed. He was that certain she was the one for him. And he was right. Together they had three sons and with her love and support they became the close family that is intact to this day. Jack was a truck driver and saw much of the country that way. Initially an owner-operator, he eventually worked for Lee Way Motor Freight from which he retired.

All of those experiences shaped who he was but it was his family that he truly lived for...always. You’ve likely heard about older couples who loved well but you’ve likely never seen a couple love each other as much as Jack and Ann did. Together they brought up and supported their three sons and grandchildren and great grandchildren and always put them first. He was well loved.

If you’ve ever sat down and had a cup of coffee with Jack, he probably talked about OU football, golf, gardening, and his travels or told a joke or two. He loved all those things. He was such a likeable guy as exemplified by the innumerable friendships he formed over a lifetime.

It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to one of the most important people in our lives but his legacy and laughter will stay with us always. Jack is survived by his three children, Jack Brown Jr., Mark Brown and wife Terri, and Sam Brown; four grandchildren, Heather Brown, Kristin Atchley and husband Jonathan, Natalie Cagle and husband Chad, and Lauren Brown; and six great grandchildren, Karsten and Abram Atchley, Megan and Ashley Cagle, Piper and Zoe DuVall.