Dr. Charles G. Brown, age 89, of 514 Marion Avenue, died Wednesday February 16, 2000 at home following an extended illness. Dr. Brown was born February 12, 1911 to the Late Dr. Charles Gailey Brown Sr. and Essie Meister Brown. The doctors Brown, father and son, between them practiced family medicine in the Mansfield and Richland County for a span, broken only by the World War II military service of Dr. Brown, Jr. of 80 years. Dr. Brown often pointed with pride to Mansfield families for whom he and his father had delivered three generations of babies.
Dr. Brown was a graduate of Denison University, where he was president of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity and was elected to ODK, a college leadership society. He earned his medical degree from the Ohio State University Medical School and was a member of AKK medical fraternity. During World War II, he was a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, serving for four years and seeing duty overseas in the Persian Gulf Command.
When he returned from overseas, Dr. Brown was stationed briefly at Ft. Belvoir, near Washington, D.C., where he met his future wife, Emily Campbell of Mansfield, Georgia. They were married in 1946.
Dr. Brown was a lifelong member of St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Mansfield, where he served on the church council. He was elected to the Mansfield Board of Education, serving from 1965 to 1969. He was a Charter Fellow of the American Academy of Family Practice and the Ohio Academy of Family Practice, and he was a member of the Richland county and Ohio State medical societies. He was a life member of Our Club.
As did his parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, Dr. Brown operated Brownlea Farm in Richland County. The farm is on land homesteaded in 1819 by his great-grandfather, Robert Brown, a Scottish Irish immigrant. At Brownlea Farm, he most enjoyed raising purebred Guernsey cattle. His Guernsey herd had the distinction of being the Number One Bangs Accredited herd in Ohio.
Dr. Brown's grandfather was the gallant Civil War soldier Colonel Robert Carson Brown, commander of Senator John Sherman's Brigade, the 64th Ohio Volunteers. Colonel Brown's battlefront memoirs, edited by Dr. Brown's son, Charles III, were recently published as the Sherman Bridgade Marches South: the Civil War Memoirs of Colonel Robert Carson Brown. Dr. Brown's great-grandfather was the Reverend Richard Gailey, a Presbyterian minister whose Lexington Male and Female Seminary was a leading Ohio educational institution from thirty years in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
A student of the Civil War in which his grandfather had distinguished himself, Dr. Brown was a member of the 64th Ohio Volunteers Infantry Reenactment group of Mansfield. He visited the sites of all the major battles in which his grandfather had fought.
One of Dr. Brown's greatest joys was taking his three sons and their young friends to Cleveland Stadium for Indians games, trips that began when the journey from Mansfield to Cleveland still had to be made on Route 42. During the many dreary years of Indians baseball, Dr. Brown would often describe the return from those outings as 'a long trip home.' A devoted lifelong fan, nevertheless. Dr. Brown bragged at the 1995 World Series appearance: 1920, 1948, 1954, and 1995. He kept his perfect record intact by attending the 1997 World Series at Jacobs Field.
Dr. Brown is survived by his wife of 53 years, Emily; three sons, Robert of Shaker Heights, Charles III of Washington, D.C. and Sherrod of Lorain and four granddaughters, Emily, Elizabeth, Tara and Marcia Grace.
Friends may call at the Diamond Street Home of Wappner Funeral Directors Friday from 6-9 p.m. Funeral services will be held at St. Luke's Lutheran Church Saturday at 11:00 a.m. conducted by Rev. Stephen Patrick. Burial will be in Mansfield Cemetery. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Volunteers of America in Mansfield or to Heifer Project International 800-422-0474: www.heifer.org, which provides training and gifts of livestock to help impoverished people throughout the world become self-sufficient.
EULOGY
Charles G. Brown III
St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Mansfield, Ohio February 19, 2000
Some young girls went to visit their grandparents out on the farm. One
day, the sky began to darken, and it was clear a terrible storm was
coming. The old farmer, knowing his duty, had to act quickly. Along
with his old dog, he went out in the field to bring back the cattle. In
the field, far from the barn, he found a newborn calf. As you must do
on a farm, he picked up the calf and carried it in his arms, a terribly
difficult task for him. After getting the cattle back, he secured the
barn, putting rods against the doors, then covered his equipment. As
the rain began, he dragged himself back to the house. Totally
exhausted, he fell down on the couch and immediately went to sleep.
Then the rains began to beat on the windows. The lightning and thunder
appeared to surround the house. The wind blew so hard that the house
shook. The little girls asked their grandmother: ''How can he sleep,
when the wind is raging and the house is shaking''' She replied: ''Let
him sleep. His work is done.''
We are here to honor Dr. Charles Gailey Brown Jr. Isn't it ironic that
we are burying Charlie Brown and Charles Shultz the creator of another
Charlie Brown through the Peanuts comic strip in the same week.
My dad brought to his life a sense of duty, a sense of community, and a
sense of family.
As a doctor, he had a sense of duty. Our family has been so pleased
with the outpouring of patients last night and today, who have remember
him and talked about how they appreciate him being their doctor.
One such patient was Luke Perry, the Hollywood actor known to every
American under 30 and to most of the rest of us. Dad delivered Luke
Perry into this world. Luke called Dad at the hospital a couple of
weeks ago to express his concern, and then said, ''Doctor, I'll be in the
area in March and would like to come see you.'' Dad replied, ''Luke,
I'll probably be dead by March.'' To which Luke said, ''Well, you're the
doctor.''
Yes indeed, Dad was the doctor, the good physician. He knew he must be
there every minute of every hour of every day. His fees for office
visits were quite low. He was a superb diagnostician. Why' Because he
talked with his patients. He learned what their problems were. He saw
them one a time. He did house calls, or saw people at our home. He
delivered hundreds, perhaps thousands, of babies, sometimes two
generations in the same family. He was available to one and all,
regardless of when or if they paid their bills. His system seems quaint
today. But as a doctor, he wanted to get his patients out of, not in,
the health care system.
His sense of duty led him to served 4 years in World War II - including
overseas. He was the third generation of Army officers to serve his
country in time of war. My brother Bob became the fourth generation
officer, although he joined the Navy -- we could never understand that.
Dad had a sense of community. For several years, he funded a
scholarship for an outstanding African-American graduate of Mansfield
Senior High. While no one can hold a candle to my mother Emily's
concern with racial justice, my dad did his part. When I was a civil
rights worker in Mississippi, they visited me and talked with Mayor
Charles Evers. No other parents did that.
And he said no to bias in his life at home. It's rather known that we
are big baseball fans. When we watched the game on TV, Dad didn't say
''Look at the Mexican 2d baseman, or the black center fielder, or the
Jewish 3d baseman.'' He said, ''Look at Bobby Avila, look at Larry Doby,
look at Al Rosen.'' People - that's what they are. That's how Dad
looked at everyone - as people.
Well, he did have one bias: rooting against the New York Yankees. He
expects us to carry that one on.
He was a man of few words, unlike some of his sons. He even knew when
not to say anything. When he served on the Mansfield Board of Education
in the 1960s, the Mansfield News Journal reported that Dr. Brown was
''ominously silent'' on a motion. He knew he could have an impact by his
silence as well.
Dad was willing to change his mind. At the age of almost 60, he marched
for peace, as a former soldier. He kept an open mind, willing to
challenge his nation's policies. It is a lesson to me for my life that
we must never stop learning.
Dad had a sense of family. He loved this church.. Three generations of
family have been baptized right here pointing to the baptismal font - a
stone carved by Dr. Brown's grandfather George Meister. His family has
been here almost from the start. His aunt Rose Custer joined about 110
years ago, then his mother Essie Meister Brown, whom many of the older
folks in the church would remember. And the youngest of those three
sisters, Minnie Wolf, was the grandmother of Carol Reaser Giltz. Carol
meant so much to her Uncle Charles, and has been so special to us all.
We appreciate all you did for him.
Reference to other family attending: Mother's nieces and nephews Tom
and Mary Ellen Westbrook, Grady Campbell, and Margaret Haughey, and
brother in law Bob Hulett.
Our family has been in this community for five generations. Dr. Brown's
great-grandfather, Robert Brown, came to farm the land in 1819. Dad
kept that long tradition going. Dick and Lois Snyder farm it. Robbie
McClain grew up there. Dad didn't let the land be turned into housing
developments. It is a farm, and grows food.
Dad's grandfather, Colonel Robert Carson Brown, answered President
Lincoln's call to save the Union and for emancipation. In recent years,
we were able to edit Colonel Brown's Civil War memoirs. It was quite a
joy for Dad in his 80s to share this book and speak to various Civil War
historical groups.
Dad's great-grandfather was the Reverend Richard Gailey, who ran the
Lexington Male and Female Academy. Among his students was John Peter
Altgeld, a Governor of Illinois and the first public official who
refused to send troops in to help employers duing a strike. Altgeld was
the mentor of Clarence Darrow, the greatest lawyer and voice for the
oppressed in the past century. As a teacher, you are never quite sure
what influence you have, but perhaps Reverend Gailey's impact on Altgeld
led to the values he brought to public service.
Dad' s father was Dr. Charles Brown Sr., physician and surgeon. I
mentioned his mother earlier. The two Drs. Brown brought to this
community almost an entire century of medical practice. Between them,
they in fact delivered three generations of babies
Dad has four granddaughters. He was able to see the youngest, Marcia
Grace Brown, age two, begin her life. He has seen his three teenage
granddaughters - Emily, Elizabeth, and Tara -- showing outstanding
accomplishments, but, more important to Dad, high character.
That high character was shown by Elizabeth Brown, age 16, who was in a
car wreck with her father Sunday morning two weeks ago. Unhurt, while
her father had several broken bones, she kept her composure as he went
to one hospital, then via ambulance to the second hospital here in
Mansfield. Elizabeth showed maturity and courage throughout.
While I am at it, let me make a pitch for seat belts. My brother
Sherrod would be dead, or paralyzed, if he hadn't used seat belts, and
my niece would have been badly hurt. So please, especially encourage
the younger folks - buckle up.
My parents Charles and Emily Brown gave us values and an education that
was so important. Bob has been a builder - a creator of the
transportation infrastructure of this society - using his training as
both a lawyer and an engineer. Sherrod has been a doer - as Theodore
Roosevelt said, the person in the ring not the critic on the outside,
taking the blows with sweat and blood, doing the popular and the
unpopular. And I have tried to be an advocate - for folks that our
system of justice ignores or beats up on.
Dad touched a lot of lives. He is of course the old farmer, and the
good physician.
''I lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from which cometh my help.'' And
the scripture also says: ''Seek and ye shall find, ask and the answer
shall be provided to you, knock and the door shall be opened unto you.''
Dad - you can rest now. Your work is done.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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