Joe E. Brown

the/Enterprise/, died Dec. 31. He was 86.

Brown went to work for the newspaper on the day after he graduated from

the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1948, and was a

reporter, news editor, city editor, managing editor and executive editor

before being named editor in 1972. A native of Snow Hill, he lived in

High Point until moving to Thomasville in 2007.

He was born July 25, 1924, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry J. Brown. He

graduated from Snow Hill High School and attended N.C. State University

before going into the service in World War II, then graduating with a

journalism degree from UNC, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.

Brown was an Army Air Force veteran, having flown combat missions in the

Pacific war zone with the 20^th Air Force as a radar navigator. He

retired from the Air Force Reserve with the rank of captain.

He was married in 1949 to Margaret Mendenhall of Thomasville. Following

her death in 1989 he was married in 1990 to Gwendolyn Kennedy Wilson,

who died in 2004.

Surviving are two sons, David E. Brown of Chapel Hill and Michael S.

Brown of High Point; a daughter, Margaret B. “Meg” Clark of Davidson; a

grandson, Michael S. Brown Jr.; son-in-law Francis C. Clark and

daughter-in-law Tambria E. Lee; and a close friend, Irma Woods.

Brown was a member of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church which he served as

senior warden, vestryman, lay reader, chalicer, choir member and chair

of several committees. He was a member of the High Point Historical

Society and the String and Splinter Club. He served three years as chair

of the board of trustees of the High Point Public Library, and in 2005

was reappointed to that board as vice chair. He was re-elected chair,

serving from 2005 to 2007.

Prior to retirement he served on the boards of directors of the High

Point Chamber of Commerce, the High Point Jaycees, the High Point Rotary

Club, the North Carolina Press Association, the High Point Family

Service Bureau, the High Point Drug Action Council of which he was

president in 1975-77, High Point United Community Services, the Southern

Furniture Club, the N.C. Associated Press Club and News Council

(including as president of both), the High Point Executives Club, the

UNC-G Friends of the Library, and the Wendover Hills Swim Club (of which

he was president). In addition he served on the Board of Visitors of

High Point University, the board of advisors for the High Point YWCA,

the community advisers of the High Point Junior League, the Public

Relations Advisory Board of N.C. State University, and the advisory

council of Maryfield Nursing Home.

In retirement Brown devoted much of his time to historical research for

the High Point Museum and the public library. In 1997 he authored a

book,/Maryfield U.S.A: A Success Story/, a history of the nursing home,

for which he won the N.C. Society of Historians’ award for historical

writing. He contributed extensive research materials to the archives of

the High Point Public Library and the N.C. Museum of History. He also

edited manuscripts for other authors.

The family will receive visitors at Sechrest Funeral Home in High Point

from 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 4, and the funeral service will be at 2

p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 5 at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. Memorials should

be sent to St. Mary’s at 108 Farriss Ave, High Point, 27262; or to the

High Point Public Library Foundation Inc. at 901 N. Main St., High

Point, 27262.