Richland, Oregon
Elmer Lee Brown Jr., 73, of Richland, died July 23, 2001, at his home.
At his request, there will be no funeral. His body will be cremated through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home at Halfway.
Mr. Brown, who was proud to be a Texan, was born in a barn on Oct. 28, 1927, while his family was following the harvest. They picked cotton and other foodstuffs.
Through hard work and a will to succeed, Mr. Brown later became a successful businessman. He worked for the railroad for a time, then worked in the woods in all aspects of logging and log hauling. He spent a large part of his adult life as a diesel mechanic.
His life’s ambition was realized when he moved to Eastern Oregon and founded his own backhoe, gravel and soil-handling business, Brown’s Backhoe.
Mr. Brown served seven years from 1945 to 1952 in the U.S. Navy as a damage-control man, second class. He was mainly in the Indo-China Sea area.
He married Muriel Theresa Nygaard on Jan. 19, 1950. They raised a family of six after settling in the Eugene area.
After moving to Richland, he married E. Lorraine Specht and they had 15 years together.
Survivors include three sisters, Helen Brown of Paris, Texas, Mary Frances Meadows and Vaneta Lois Bryan and a brother, Elmer Lee Brown, all of Sayre, Okla.; two sons, George Leslie Brown of Marcola and Airman E1 (AW) Roy Lee Brown of Sicily, Italy; three daughters, Theresa May Howard of Mystic, Conn., Wendy Louise Bryan of Chesapeake, Va., and Nancy Elaine Willett of Toano, Va.; and a close cousin, Jerry Jones, whose family did so much to help Mr. Brown when he was a child; and nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Elmer Lee Brown Sr. and Willie Lucille Smart; his sister Gertrude Belle of Paris, Texas; three brothers, James Henry Brown, Eddie Waylon Brown and Johnny Mack Brown and a sister, Voleta Fern Brown all of Sayre, Okla.; and a daughter, Barbara Jean Davis of Springfield.
Memorial contributions may be made to Eagle Valley Ambulance through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home, P.O. Box 543, Halfway, Ore. 97834.
Used with permission from: The Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, August 8, 2001
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor