Joseph Chenoweth Brown

Joseph Chenoweth Brown, Jr died at home on April 12, 2018 surrounded by his family. He was born July 31, 1920, with his identical twin brother, Bill in Austin, Texas to Elva Trueheart Brown and Joseph Chenoweth Brown.

Like many in his generation Joe’s life was heavily shaped during his early years by the depression and war. When Joe was 7 years old the family moved to Houston into the house his father built on Shadow Lawn. He and Bill told how his father acquired a large piece of boiler plate and lifted it into the attic as the back stop for a shooting range. They shared a BB-gun with which they became proficient. On their 11th birthday their father gave them a .22 Caliber rifle and they enjoyed hours in the attic shooting range. Their father died unexpectedly in 1933 when Joe was 13 years old. Shortly after that Joe and Bill left to attend The Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. Upon their graduation in 1939 from EHS, their Aunt Rebecca Trueheart Turnbull wanted to send their mother Elva and the twins on a trip to Europe. However, Hitler was gaining power and Europe had become a dangerous place. They decided on a tour of South America. For the next months, Elva Brown and her family toured Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. Joe often remarked that they were among the first tourists to visit the Lost City of the Incas - Machu Picchu. On September 1, 1939, nearing the end of their tour they prepared to board a ship to take them home when news reached them that Hitler had invaded Poland, and the world had suddenly changed.

In the fall of 1939, Joe enrolled in Rice Institute in Houston, Texas. During the Fall of his senior year in 1942 as the conflict in Europe grew Joe volunteered for the Army. He went to boot camp and later went through training at Fort Wallace and Fort Bliss. He attended Anti-Aircraft Artillery school and Officer Candidate School at Camp Davis, NC. He served under Gen. Omar Bradley as a First Lieutenant, Antiaircraft Gun Unit Commander in the 113th AAA initially serving in North Africa where his artillery unit guarded Eisenhower’s headquarters. His unit was later deployed to Liege, Belgium after the D-Day invasion where he guarded the supply ports during the Battle of the Bulge. When the Allies took back Europe he was witness to Churchill, De Gaulle, and Eisenhower’s march down the Champs-Elysees after the liberation of Paris. He was awarded the American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, with 3 Bronze Service Stars for participation in Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns, World War II Victory Medal, 4 overseas service Bars for over 27 months of foreign service and awarded the Belgian Fouragerre.

He graduated from the University of Texas Law School in 1948 and practiced general law for several years. He was recalled serving in the Korean War and taught in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. After discharge, he began to specialize in natural resource law and was employed for many years by Texas Gulf Sulphur Company in Houston, Texas.

Joe married Susan Judd in October of 1950. He retired from corporate life in 1985 but continued to practice law and manage real estate and mineral assets until the last few years. He has been a member of the Texas State Bar Association since 1948.

He was a member of The Houston Country Club and the East India Club. He was a former board member of The Bayou Club of Houston, Allegro, and Eagle Lake Rod & Gun Club. He served for several years as Chairman of the Harris County Chapter of the American Cancer Society and on the board of Family Service Center.

An enthusiastic tennis player into his 90’s, he enjoyed outdoor sports and especially loved spending time with family at Lambshead Ranch, in Albany, Texas.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother Henry Trueheart Brown sister Mary Hill Brown Whitcomb, and grandson, Charles Phineas Armstrong. He is survived by his wife of 67 years Susan Judd Brown; daughter Rebecca Brown Hutcheson (Thad Hutcheson); son Matthews Brown (Christy Cowden Brown); daughter Ardon Brown Armstrong (Tobin Armstrong, Jr.); son John Overton Brown (Georgia Carter); grandchildren Courtney Brown Snyder (Chad); Lauren Brown Stewart (Ryon); Joseph Wesley (Wes) Brown (Macy); Sallie Armstrong Bentley (Matthew); Tobin Armstrong, III; Berkeley Reynolds Brown; William Trueheart Brown; Genevieve Hutcheson Butcher (Keen); Curtis Hutcheson (Courtney); Hannah Herzog, Oliver Herzog (Mollie); and Rita Herzog; great grandchildren, Meryn June Stewart, and Phoebe Jean Snyder and his twin brother William Knox Brown. The family is grateful to Marcia Soto, Marina Horsford, Theresa Wells, and Maria Orduna for their loving care during Joe’s final days.

The family will gather for a private visitation in Houston, followed by a graveside service at Reynolds Bend Cemetery on Lambshead Ranch. Pallbearers will be his grandsons and Fowler Carter

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family suggests a contribution to your favorite charity.

AN HONEST man here lies at rest,

As e’er God with his image blest;

The friend of man, the friend of truth,

The friend of age, and guide of youth:

Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d, 5

Few heads with knowledge so inform’d:

If there ’s another world, he lives in bliss;

If there is none, he made the best of this.

Robert Burns