Richard Lee Brown

1947, in Kildare, Texas, to Aldridge and Dorothy Brown, he spent his childhood in St. Joseph, Missouri, and graduated from Central High School in 1965.

After graduation, Richard moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. While attending college in California, he was drafted and later enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive, where he was exposed to Agent Orange.

He was honorably discharged in 1969 and returned to St. Joseph, where he joined the police force and attended Missouri Western State University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology.

In 1983, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he began his employment as a Juvenile Probation Officer with the Maricopa County Supreme Court. After attending the University of Phoenix and obtaining a master’s degree, Richard was promoted to Supervisor. He retired in January of 2008. Richard met the love of his life when he enrolled a probationer in the reading program that Marsha oversaw at the Juvenile Court.

They married six years later. Richard and Marsha traveled the world together and enjoyed adventures in Europe, Egypt, cruises to Norway, Panama Canal, Danube River, Nile River, and Mexico.

They liked to take road trips to Las Vegas, St. Joseph, and where other roads would lead them. Richard and Marsha did not have any children but loved their fur baby dachshunds.

Richard leaves behind his devoted wife of 32 years, Marsha Batterberry; his children, Lavette (Franzo) King and Jay (Jaki) Brown; six grandchildren and three great grandchildren; his brothers and sisters; Henry (Elizabeth) Brown, Carolyn Starr, Saundra (Jonathan) Dunn, Yvonne Turner, Mary Gayle Brown, Irving (Jennifer) Brown, Sheldon Brown, Sophia Brown, and Tamara Brown. He is preceded in death by his parents, Aldridge and Dorothy Brown, sister, Sharon Brown, brother, Charles Brown, and an infant daughter.

A Celebration of Richard’s Life will be held on Saturday, September 5 at the Arizona State Veterans Home in Phoenix from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm in Liberty Hall. If you would like to share your experience with Richard, it would be greatly appreciated. You can either share it aloud at the celebration or write it and send it to Marsha where she will read it.

Please RSVP to Marsha at [email protected] or FB or text at 623.297.2013