J C Brown

Mr. James Charles "Sunbeam" Brown, Sr., 82, retired employee of Bell South and resident of Rogersville, Alabama, died Thursday, January 8, 2009 at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence, Alabama. Funeral services will be conducted at 2:00 P.M. Sunday at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home with Charles "Chuck" Hardison officiating. Burial will be in Polk Memorial Gardens with military honors provided by Herbert Griffin American Legion Post 19. The family will visit with friends Saturday from 3:00 - 7:00 P.M. at the funeral home. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. The Maury County native was the son of the late Sherman Brown and Sarah Pauline Kennedy Brown. He was married to Dorothy Marie Gibson Brown who preceded him in death on November 10, 2007. Mr. Brown was a graduate of Columbia Central High School and former longtime resident of Seventh Avenue in the Riverside Community. After his retirement from Bell South, he moved to Rogersville, Alabama and lived on the Tennessee River. He served in the U. S. Marines and was a member of Herbert Griffin American Legion Post 19. He was a past president of the Telephone Pioneers and had coached Columbia Golden Gloves Boxing. He was a charter member of Northside Baptist Church. Survivors include one daughter, Jeannie Brown Phillips of Culleoka; three sons, James C. "Jimmy" (Linda) Brown of Lewisburg and Sarasota, Florida; Jeff (Julie Crane) Brown of Florence, Alabama; Joe Brown of Columbia; nine grandchildren, James C. "Jim" Brown, III, Jonathan Brown, Jennifer Brown Gliden, Rachael Phillips, Anna Phillips, Virginia Barnes, Sarah Brown, Emily Hedrick, Alexandra Brown; and ten great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Ray Brown and Sherman Brown. Active pallbearers will be Mike Poling, Sam Beddingfield, Bobby Harris, J. W. "Shorty" Rush, Ed Holton, Donny Walters, and Bobby Pilkinton. Honorary pallbearers will be Telephone Pioneers, members of Herbert Griffin American Legion Post 19, River Friends, residents and staff of Merrill Gardens, and staff of Davita Dialysis in Florence, Alabama.