Thomas Hurley Brown

Thomas Hurley Brown, 82, retired from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, businessman, and community activist, died Sunday, June 29, 2008 at his residence on Green Acres Drive. The family will visit with friends Tuesday from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols. Private family graveside services will be conducted at Polk Memorial Gardens with Curtis Dowdy and David Morris officiating. Military honors will be provided by Herbert Griffin American Legion Post #19. Memorials may be made to Highland Church of Christ Building Fund, 497 East James Campbell Boulevard, Columbia 38401; American Cancer Society, P. O. Box 1864, Columbia 38402; or Hospice of the Highland Rim, 1412 Trotwood Avenue, Columbia 38401. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com. Born in the Meadville Community of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, he was the son of the late Robert Keltner Brown and Helen Ann Hurley Brown. He was a 1943 graduate of Jones High School in Lynnville and lettered as a member of the football team. Shortly after graduation, he enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Corps and served until November 1945. At the time of his discharge, he was a pilot with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and remained in the reserves until December 1957. After completing active military service, he attended the University of Tennessee for two years and then began employment with Armour Mines for two years. He was married September 7, 1947 to the former Helen Louise Gambill, who survives. Mr. Brown was bookkeeper for W. N. Butler & Company Feed Mill for five years and in April of 1956 became the County Executive for the A.S.C.S., U. S. Department of Agriculture. In addition to his regular office duties, he became involved in aerial photography in 1979, when Maury County was designated an aerial photography county. He covered most of the State of Tennessee in this work and after retirement, he did some related contract work. Mr. Brown retired in March of 1989 with almost thirty-five years with the U. S. Government, including military service, and received an Administrator's Award in Washington from the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Active in civic and community affairs, Mr. Brown served several years as treasurer and president of Highland Park Elementary School P.T.A. and in April 1976 was elected to a two-year term as president of the County Council of the Parent-Teachers Association. He served on the Maury County Board of Education for twelve years, the last two as Chairman. For ten years, he was director of the Tennessee Children's Home (formerly Tennessee Orphans' Home) and for several years was active in working with the South Central Human Resources Agency. He owned and operated Cemetery Memorials until 2005 and remained as manager until he became ill in May of 2007. Mr. Brown was a member of Highland Church of Christ for almost sixty years and served as an elder for twenty-five years and treasurer for forty years.Survivors in addition to his wife include a daughter, Bronwyn Brown (Barry) Watson of Lascassas; a son, Brian Brown of Nashville; three grandchildren, Amanda Watson (Cobey) Wilson of Smyrna, Georgia, Megan Watson (Jason) Schissel of El Segundo, California, and Eric Thomas Watson of LaVergne; a brother-in-law, Edward (Dorothy) Gambill of Ocala, Florida; nine special Brown cousins and fourteen special classmates. He was preceded in death by a sister and brother-in-law, Shirley Brown White and James Cobb White, Jr.; an infant sister, Linda Jean Brown; and sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Ethel Gambill and Larry Lovejoy. Honorary pallbearers include elders and deacons of Highland Church of Christ, Charles Bassham, Ross Beckham, Keith Mitchener, Jerry Norman, Louis Eubank, Jr., Fred Greer, Rolland Thomason, Lewis Robinson, Thomas Park, Hardy Hunt, James Hubbell, Robert Busack, Dr. Kenneth Poag, Billy Demastus, W. Houston Burgess, and Jimmy Watson.