Reverend Wayne D. Brown

Wayne was born to parents Darel and Marcella Brown on March 21,1943 in Bismarck, ND. He grew up as the youngest of two and spent his youth on the family farm outside of Linton, ND with winters spent in sunny California. He graduated from Wessington Springs High School, SD. In 1965, he married his high school sweetheart, Charlotte Brown. They moved several times in order to attend various schools in pursuit of their respective degrees. Wayne graduated from Greenville College in Greenville, IL in 1966 and in 1969 from Saint Paul School of Theology with a Masters of Divinity degree. Wayne was ordained as an Elder in the United Methodist Church in 1971. To their great joy, son Timothy arrived in 1971, and daughter Stacie in 1975.

Wayne and Char served churches in Neche, Cavalier, Devils Lake and Minot, North Dakota. In 1993 they moved to Las Vegas and served at Griffith and Desert Spring United Methodist Churches in Las Vegas and First UMC in Henderson.

He was active in his communities including being a firefighter, serving on the City Commission, serving as a counselor at the Chemical Dependency Unit while also serving on many boards and church committees on both the local and conference levels. He loved tinkering, fixing things, woodworking, computers, working on cars and ALWAYS driving fast. He was a lifelong learner, keeping up with the march of technology until his health failed. One of his last great interests was learning how to build stained-glass windows.

Wayne truly cared about people and making the world a better place. He loved time spent with friends and family and treasured his time with his grandchildren. His sense of humor and mischievous nature were infectious and endearing. He relished staying up late to watch movies, especially westerns, and reveled in always eating dessert, often first!

Wayne is survived by his son, Timothy Scott (Dawn) Brown; his daughter, Stacie Jo (James) Mahoney; his sister, Yvonne (Erwin) Kiemele; sister-in-law Ruth (Harley) Reile; brother-in-law Dan (Carol) Pepple and beloved grandchildren, Timothy, Tayleigh, Olivia, Elizabeth and Ashleigh. He also leaves numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, numerous cousins and many close friends. His parents, Darel and Marcella and his cherished wife, Charlotte, precede him in death.

Services will be held at Desert Spring United Methodist Church, Las Vegas on April 5 with viewing from 10:00-11:00 am. Wayne’s memorial service will be held at 11:00 am followed by a fellowship luncheon. For those unable to attend the memorial, the service will be streamed over the Internet for remote viewing at http://desertspringchurch.com. The family is grateful for the condolences. Memorials may be made to Desert Spring Church designated for the annual children’s backpack drive in conjunction with C.P. Squires Elementary School.