James Travis Brown

James Travis Brown, 67, of Amarillo, Texas, passed away on February 27, 2022. Family will receive from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm Thursday March 3 at Griggs Schooler Gordon Funeral Home. A mass in his honor will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday March 4 at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 4100 S. Counter in Amarillo, with Father John Valdez officiating. You may view the service live at amarillo.church/live. Arrangements are by Griggs Schooler Gordon Funeral Directors. Pallbearers are David Stidham, Howard Price, Ross Kerns, Tony Hall and Larry Stalcup. Honorary pallbearers are members of Southwest AMBUCS and the Amarillo Executive Association.

James was born in Amarillo July 19, 1954 to Audrey D. Brown and Neweva Edmonson. He was raised in city’s Pleasant Valley community and was a Boy Scout. He graduated from Palo Duro High School in 1972. After graduation he attended Amarillo College. It was there that he met Deborah Harlan, who stole his heart. They were married on August 23, 1974 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

James was involved in the insurance business his entire professional career. He was the quintessential independent insurance agent. In January 1976, he started providing personal insurance needs to families and businesses with Bill Harlan Insurance Agency in Amarillo. They established additional offices in Pleasant Valley and Vega, Texas. Bill Harlan was a long-time agent and helped James hone his craft.

Harlan Insurance later became Harlan & Brown Insurance. In 2005, the agency merged with Upshaw Insurance, which has offices in Amarillo and Dallas. James specialized in the firm’s personal insurance needs and expanded more into commercial coverage.

He retired in January 2021, but not before serving on numerous local and state insurance association committees and boards. He was the only insurance agent to sit on the Texas Department of Insurance. He was on the board’s Surplus Line’s Stamping Office that oversees larger agencies. The late Ernie Houdashell, Randall County Judge, and State Rep. John Smithee from Amarillo nominated him for the position. He was appointed by then Gov. George W. Bush. He sat on the board for five years and also served as its president. Also, James was the first local agent to serve more than once as president of the local Independent Insurance Agents Association.

James was a strong believer in community service. He joined the former Amarillo Jaycees civic club in the early 1980s where he made many lifelong friends. He served as president and was very active in the club’s program to help make sure car seats were available to newborns when they left the hospital. He joined Southwest AMBUCs in 1984 and was a life-long member. James held nearly every AMBUCS office. His proudest AMBUCS accomplishment was serving as chairman of the committee to build the Southwest AMBUCs Park in Amarillo’s Medi-Park in 2016. The park is designed to facilitate children with special needs. A second park, the Kylie Hiner Memorial Playground, is being completed in Canyon, Texas.

James joined the Amarillo Executive Association in 1998. The Executive club consists of members representing nearly every type of business. James was honored to have been welcomed into the club as its insurance agency representative. Among his duties was that of club president and part of the committee that hosts the iconic Game Dinner.

Hunting and fishing were a natural for him. His granddad, Jimmy Edmonson, got him started. “I was the bag boy and got to carry the birds on quail hunts near the family’s home in Hollis, Oklahoma,” James recently remembered. “When I got old enough they let me shoot. I’ve been involved in hunting forever.” His granddad also introduced him to pocketknives, prompting him to start his own knife collection. Many of those knives were given to close friends in his last weeks. His love for hunting and fishing grew as he entered his teens and started college. Deborah also liked the outdoors, but cried foul when it came to cleaning birds. One afternoon in the early ‘80s, James brought home his limit. The birds needed cleaning. Since he was already an expert, and with the look he received from Deborah, he politely plucked the birds and they enjoyed the quail dinner.

James later noted, “I made Deborah a camper years ago. She was scared to death that bears were going to get her at night.” Early on they mostly camped in Cimarron Canyon, New Mexico. In the beginning they roughed it and camped in tents. Deborah probably slept with one eye open in case Smokey showed up. They eventually switched to RVs and traveled over several states to see distant friends and fish new lakes and streams. James babied his trusty fishing boat, but a large pontoon eventually replaced it. He and Deborah enjoyed the pontoon during many of the 26 years they lived on Lake Tanglewood.

James obtained his own hunting lease in the 1990s, ironically outside the community of Quail in the southeast Panhandle. James and his close friend David Stidham often took David’s sons and James’ nephews with them on hunts. They often slept under the stars. On one early fall morning, he woke up and saw dove flying everywhere. He jumped off his cot, threw on his gun bag and started shooting – while still in his underwear. Kids on the trip were highly entertained, and educated on items not in the official hunter’s guide.

Quail and dove hunts with his brother Kevin, friends, colleagues and clients were among his favorite memories. James and friends also did their share of pheasant hunting in Kansas. It wasn’t unusual for James to bag his games limits. And he didn’t mind sharing his shooting success with his trusty bird dogs, all Golden Retrievers, Brady, then Kia and currently the bodacious Bodie. James enjoyed Bodie’s spry personality and eagerness to play with anyone and anything in sight. But in the field, Bodie was all business. If there were quail or dove, he found them.

Anyone around James much, whether they were family members, friends, colleagues or clients, relished his sense of humor. More than once they heard his cell phone ring tone, “Whoa! I feel good…” blasted by the other James Brown. That was just one of the many qualities that made James the man he was. His role as a husband, family man, friend, colleague, insurance agent and community servant will be deeply missed.

James was preceded in death by his father Audrey D. Brown, Deborah’s father Bill Harlan, and Deborah’s mother Peggy Harlan. He is survived by his wife, Deborah; his mother Neweva Brown of Amarillo; brother Kevin Brown and wife Kim of Amarillo and their children Jared and Benton; sister Dejauna Rambo and husband Gary of Waukomis, Oklahoma and their children Amy Barnes and Tye Rambo; Deborah’s sister, Vickie Halsey and husband Stevan of Canyon and their children Taylor and Rheagan; and numerous great-nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Southwest AMBUCS, PO Box 669, Amarillo, TX , 79105, in care of SMDW.