Kenneth Brown

After celebrating his 100th birthday earlier this year, Ken Brown passed away peacefully on October 19, 2025 due to congestive heart failure. Funeral services will be held on November 8, 2025 at 2:00 pm at Hodges Funeral Home in Naples, Florida.

Ken grew up in Nashville, Tennessee where he graduated from Litton High School. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, teaching foreign pilots how to fly US airplanes. He than had a 35-year career with Nashville’s only Caterpillar dealer, Thompson & Green Machinery. After retiring, he and his wife, Norma, moved to Naples, Florida, where they enjoyed the fishing life for over forty years. He was active in the Naples Church of Christ and enjoyed his favorite sport of baseball as a fan of the Atlanta Braves.

He was known affectionately to his family as “K”, since Norma already had a brother named Ken. K and Norma were known for hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for Norma’s entire family at their home. At Christmas they would give to each of the fifteen nephews and nieces two-dollar bills, and later the “new” JFK half dollars, a number of which are in their possession even today. While in Nashville, K utilized his engineering skills by building a house boat that he and Norma stored, used and shared at Dale Hollow Lake two hours from Nashville. In Florida they became a destination for family members taking vacations. Fishing on K’s boat and looking for alligators and manatees were popular activities.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Clyde And Nellie Johnson Brown; wife, Norma; and brother, Clyde Brown. He is survived by one sister-in-law, Mary Ann Palmer, and eleven nephews and nieces.