Extracted from The Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX)
Sunday, September 3, 2006

Dr. John Brown

Retired dentist John Brown, 79, passed away Saturday, Sept. 2.

Service will be 2 p.m Tuesday at First Baptist in Shawnee. Burial will follow at Resthaven Memorial Park in Shawnee. Visitation will be today 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Greenwood Funeral Home, Fort Worth, Texas.

Dr. Brown was born Sept. 15, 1926, in Kansas City, Mo. At the age of 2 months he was adopted by Arch and Marie Brown of Heavener, where he grew up and graduated from high school in 1944. While in school he was active in music, singing in a quartet and chorus. He played the saxophone in the band and won many awards playing the violin as a solo instrument.

Upon graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served two years as a radio operator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Monterey CVL 26. He was discharged on the point system in 1946 and enrolled at Oklahoma Baptist University as a pre-dental student.

At OBU, he played the saxophone in the band and violin in the orchestra. John also taught freshman chemistry, quantitative analysis, organic lab and toxicology lab as a student instructor. He graduated in 1949 with a bachelor of science in chemistry, physics and biology and as a member of Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities.

In 1950 he enrolled in Kansas City Western Dental School in Kansas City, Mo. While in school he supplemented his GI Bill income by driving Yellow Cabs part-time.

John graduated in 1954 and moved to Shawnee, where he opened his general dentistry practice. He was active in the community, serving on the YMCA board when they built the new building; Pottawatomie County Board of Health for 30 years; the Indian guides program, where he served as longhouse chief; the Boy Scouts, where he was health and safety commissioner; the Shawnee Lions Club as president and zone chairman; and Tecumseh Rotary president.

John was active in the First Baptist Church, where he sang in the senior adult choir and the sanctuary choir for 50 years, and was a deacon for 40 years, past deacon chairman and several times as chairman of the house and grounds committee.

Professionally, John was a member of the American Dental Association, the Oklahoma Dental Association, where he served two terms for the house of delegates, past president of the Central District Dental Association and past president of the Pott. County Dental Society. He retired to Fort Worth in 2004 after 50 years in practice.

In 1949 John married Nancy Lee of Spiro. Into this union were born two sons, John Keith Brown in 1954 and John David Brown in 1957. In 1981, John married Carla Latta of Fort Worth.

Survivors include his wife, Carla, of Fort Worth; a son, Keith Brown, and his wife, Shauna of Midland, Texas; a granddaughter, Heather and husband, Will, of North Pole, Alaska.; grandson, Joshua Brown and wife of Lubbock, Texas; son, David Brown and wife, Stefania of Cary, N.C.; grandsons, Andrew Brown, Michael Brown, Matthew Brown, and granddaughter, Julia Brown, all of Cary, N.C. He also is survived by Michael and Raylene Latta, David and Kathy Latta, Valerie Green, Nancy and Larry Albert, Andrew and Polly Latta, Craig and Donna Latta; 20 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

A guestbook is available at www.star-telegram.com/obituaries.