Dewaine Martin Brown
I am the third child of Floyd and Mina Brown. When I was born my father did not know I was born exactly 100 years later than his Grandfather Neuman Brown, July 18, 1830, July 18, 1930. That was a remarkable feat — with absolutely no effort on my part. By the time I was seven, my older sister Ilene and older brother Dewitt had passed away. Following my birth, two more brothers and three sisters joined our family.
We lived on the Gila River about fifty miles out of the Gila National Forest into the high desert area. The spring runoffs would bring healthy muddy soil into our canals and farms and great crops were raised in this fertile valley.
I went to grade school until the eighth grade and we then sold our little farm and moved to the northwest part of New Mexico on the San Juan River. Here I went to high school. I obtained no scholastic recognition, and I never scored any points in basketball, football, or baseball. I was a shrimp until I got out of high school, and then weighed 135 lbs on my mission at 5'11½”.
When I was fourteen I began having ulcers that afflicted me until I was 39. I had hemorrhaged seven or eight times. So I had an operation reconfiguring my duodenal that kept my food in my stomach much longer. This enabled me to have more nutrients to my body and in about 18 months I gained weight until I weighed 185 lbs. Plus I no longer had stomach pains. That was like a partial resurrection and I have enjoyed good health ever since, for which I am grateful.
While I did not play on the high school team and did not pick up good methods of basketball art, I did play a little on the Town team the year I got out of high school. In those days, the Harlem Globetrotters made their way from the east coast and Midwest across the country, stopping and playing small town teams and putting on a real show for the local citizens at 50 cents each. There were only seven players on our team and of course I did not play except at the end. But the charitable coach let me play the last three or four minutes. I did not know I had a baby face and they thought I was only 15-16 and they took pity on me. Fouled me quickly and I accidentally made the basket. They then thumped the ball into my stomach saying, “Shoot man. You are loaded.” Another accidental two points. And another one later. So I made five points. So satisfying.
By the time I was 18, my mother had died of cancer and father had died of adhesion of the intestines. My brothers and sisters went to live with my mother's siblings, and I went to live with Grandma Brown and Uncle Jess and Aunt Fern which was a pleasing blessing. After several months there, I went to BYU for two quarters and then went on a mission to the Northwestern States. These two years impacted my life for good. I gained a great deal of knowledge of the scriptures that served me well through my life.
A few months after my mission I was asked to go to Pomeroy, Washington, and conduct a funeral for Wayne Stamper, son of the Bill and Irene Stamper family we had baptized about two years before in Orofino, Idaho. He had been killed in Korea, and while I had only met him two or three times, we hit it off quite well. He had taken leadership training and had gone to Korea as a Sergeant in the service. While he did not live with his parents in Orofino, where they were taught and baptized by us, he met with the LDS boys in Korea. Mail took about 30 days to come from Korea and about a week or so after his death, his parents received a letter from him asking, “If I do not come home, please have my work done in the Temple.” It took nearly two months before his body came home and in that time his mother wrote President McKay asking if it was necessary to wait a full year before doing his work in the Temple. They related to President McKay his letter asking that his work be done. In response to their letter, they received a letter from President McKay allowing them to do the work immediately because he had been converted. The Monday morning following his funeral on Saturday, his work was done in the Salt Lake City Temple. His father was proxy for his endowment, and I was proxy for his sealing to his parents.
From the scriptures and renowned poets I gained a great appreciation for my first set of parents. The Parents of my spirit. Additionally, this enhanced my love and devotion to my earthly parents, Floyd and Mina Brown.
The short while I lived with Grandma, Aunt Fern, and Uncle Jess, I grew a little out of my shell. I sang in a quartet that sang many places and was in several dance festivals having a great time. And most important, Aunt Fern influenced me to go the BYU where I grew in my knowledge of the scriptures. I had tried to read them in my teens but it was like a log jam in my mind, but Reid Bankhead, an associate professor at the time really helped me. So I am forever grateful to Aunt Fern for her influence for good.
As was normal in the 1950s when a missionary came home from a mission he was asked to give a talk in Stake conference. Even though I knew few people in Mesa because of my brevity of living with Grandma and Aunt Fern, several relatives came up following the conference and told me of my relationship to them through my father's Reynolds and Sherwoods and my mother's Mortensens and Andersens who had moved into the Salt Valley area.
Within a couple of years after coming home I found myself in Las Vegas, Nevada and working in the opening of the first shopping center under one roof. It was the first of its kind in the country and as its success grew, businessmen from all over the US came to check it out. This was in 1955. It was a precursor to the modern Wal-Mart which began in the late 60s and early 70s.
I had been in Las Vegas a few days when I was asked to speak at a study group in the Stake. It was at the home of Merle and Beulah Frehner. These were middle age and older couples. At the conclusion of my assignment, I asked to be excused to go to the M Men and Gleaner fireside. Sister Frehner insisted that I stay for pie and ice cream. I mentioned I did not see any prospects for marriage at their home and I therefore would like to be excused. While Sister Frehner did not say it until after I married their daughter about ten months later, she said to herself that night, “You just wait till Judy gets home.”
Judy is a marvel. She plays the organ, piano, paints, leads Primary choirs, and helps me and our children stay on course. She was in a trio in high school, and we have sung a few duets, one in Hawaii at a convention. She has used the phrase many times with our children while giving us dinner. “We do not want to see any empty chairs at our table in Heaven.” She has supported me in my work and callings in the church faithfully and been a great economizing support. She does not always catch on to my Virden jokes, but when she raises her eyebrows I know to say, “Virden Joke.” We only fuss over one thing: who is going to go first. If I do, what will she do about the house and finances? If she goes first, will I take my pills and be able to feed myself?
After the Vegas Village Shopping Center experience, I was into the Group Health and Life Insurance business for some 35 years that allowed me my own time. That was a great feeling.
I taught Seminary for some 10+ years and was coordinator for one year. What a great program that gives the students tools to withstand drugs and pornography and gives them a head start at the beginning of their school day against the evils parading through the school halls every day.
My community service was with Boy Scouts for which I received the Silver Beaver Award. Most of my service with the Scouts was with Leadership Training, both adults and youth. My most rewarding was with the Woodbadge training of adults.
Additionally I was PTA President of the E. W. Griffith Grade school. One of the most satisfying experiences was with a few parents going to the DA's office and supporting a school teacher who had been falsely accused of abuse by two spoiled little boys who were very good basketball players, but would not play with the other boys. When benched by the coach for their conduct, they went to the principal and made false accusations. While the teacher was removed to another school it became evident that the boys were in the wrong. We have remained friends with this remarkable teacher through the years. In the middle of this process he and his wife were adopting two boys. It almost caused them to lose that opportunity.
Another satisfying experience was in my 40s, coaching the Explorers team of the 28th Ward when Coach Seamon was through. I was his home teacher and enjoyed going to the games and sitting behind him and watching his very successful method of coaching. They could not find a coach and because my son was on the team they said, “You have the job” and hung up the phone before I could answer. All the good players the former year had moved on so it was a total rebuilding year, including the new coach.
As I began coaching we had a former college player staying with us a few weeks and he showed me the box and one method of shutting down the most prolific player on the opposing team. Additionally I got girls to keep record of who was shooting from where and we would attack that area when they had the ball. The first year we got second in our stake and the second year we took Regional. It was very satisfying as the opposing team had a couple of guys up there over six feet and most of ours were six feet or less. But we had a little 5'9” sharp shooter and a guy 6' who had inner-spring-mattress legs that would get up there before their bigger guys could get the rebounds. So they really won the games.
My service as a Bishop of Las Vegas 50th Young Adult Ward for nearly six years was a fun experience. The young adults loved Judy and we witnessed about 120 marriages, most all of them in the St. George Temple. It is great to see some of them in the temple today not only as patrons, but as ordinance workers.
While serving as Bishop, Judy's cousin Barbara Lee got us to take time off each Wednesday night and join the Desert Chorale, a group of about 60 people. We sang in Mexico City at an Easter TV Broadcast and another year at the Juanajuato Festival in Mexico that invites Choruses from all over the world to participate. Not only did we sing at those events, but for local LDS church events too. We also went to Washington DC during the 500-year celebration of the discovery of America. Judy sang alto and I tenor.
In the drama of giving back, we have had four individuals live with us, one at a time. Three girls and one boy, all young adults while I was Bishop. All at different times. We learned to love each one of them and watched them grow through their struggles in much the same way Grandma and Aunt Fern and Uncle Jess gave love and a home to me for a while.
Another fun activity was serving in the Tokyo South Mission as English-speaking missionaries. When asked if we learned Japanese, we said “Yes, five words a day. The same five words every day.”
We now have slowed a little and Judy keeps me healthy and I work in the temple, the greatest senior citizen facility. A joyful place for meeting and working with other senior citizens. One of the greatest places for meaningful therapy and joy to the soul.
It has been a great life, with joyful moments, and challenging times that stretch us and bring us greater knowledge about life.
I am so grateful to have been born into this the Stephen Alonzo and Teresa Reynolds Brown family. I am grateful for my wife, children, siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles who have helped me grow by sharing their love.
I am grateful for holy writ and masterful poetry and articles by men with analytical minds that can help us see things more clearly. I love the third verse of “Ode to Immortality”, and writings of C. S. Lewis when he says something similar to this: “If you want to see what God looks like, look into the face of a child. For they are his posterity.”
I loved the knowledge that Grandpa Lon loved Holy Writ and knew it well. I also loved that Grandma Teresa loved and recited poetry. My wife Judy loves and reads poetry.
And I have an abundance of love for my first set of Parents, the parents of my spirit body and have great faith that I, my wife, my children and grandchildren and posterity will, upon our separation from this life, be received back into His home, remarkable place of glory and rest.
We lived on the Gila River about fifty miles out of the Gila National Forest into the high desert area. The spring runoffs would bring healthy muddy soil into our canals and farms and great crops were raised in this fertile valley.
I went to grade school until the eighth grade and we then sold our little farm and moved to the northwest part of New Mexico on the San Juan River. Here I went to high school. I obtained no scholastic recognition, and I never scored any points in basketball, football, or baseball. I was a shrimp until I got out of high school, and then weighed 135 lbs on my mission at 5'11½”.
When I was fourteen I began having ulcers that afflicted me until I was 39. I had hemorrhaged seven or eight times. So I had an operation reconfiguring my duodenal that kept my food in my stomach much longer. This enabled me to have more nutrients to my body and in about 18 months I gained weight until I weighed 185 lbs. Plus I no longer had stomach pains. That was like a partial resurrection and I have enjoyed good health ever since, for which I am grateful.
While I did not play on the high school team and did not pick up good methods of basketball art, I did play a little on the Town team the year I got out of high school. In those days, the Harlem Globetrotters made their way from the east coast and Midwest across the country, stopping and playing small town teams and putting on a real show for the local citizens at 50 cents each. There were only seven players on our team and of course I did not play except at the end. But the charitable coach let me play the last three or four minutes. I did not know I had a baby face and they thought I was only 15-16 and they took pity on me. Fouled me quickly and I accidentally made the basket. They then thumped the ball into my stomach saying, “Shoot man. You are loaded.” Another accidental two points. And another one later. So I made five points. So satisfying.
By the time I was 18, my mother had died of cancer and father had died of adhesion of the intestines. My brothers and sisters went to live with my mother's siblings, and I went to live with Grandma Brown and Uncle Jess and Aunt Fern which was a pleasing blessing. After several months there, I went to BYU for two quarters and then went on a mission to the Northwestern States. These two years impacted my life for good. I gained a great deal of knowledge of the scriptures that served me well through my life.
A few months after my mission I was asked to go to Pomeroy, Washington, and conduct a funeral for Wayne Stamper, son of the Bill and Irene Stamper family we had baptized about two years before in Orofino, Idaho. He had been killed in Korea, and while I had only met him two or three times, we hit it off quite well. He had taken leadership training and had gone to Korea as a Sergeant in the service. While he did not live with his parents in Orofino, where they were taught and baptized by us, he met with the LDS boys in Korea. Mail took about 30 days to come from Korea and about a week or so after his death, his parents received a letter from him asking, “If I do not come home, please have my work done in the Temple.” It took nearly two months before his body came home and in that time his mother wrote President McKay asking if it was necessary to wait a full year before doing his work in the Temple. They related to President McKay his letter asking that his work be done. In response to their letter, they received a letter from President McKay allowing them to do the work immediately because he had been converted. The Monday morning following his funeral on Saturday, his work was done in the Salt Lake City Temple. His father was proxy for his endowment, and I was proxy for his sealing to his parents.
From the scriptures and renowned poets I gained a great appreciation for my first set of parents. The Parents of my spirit. Additionally, this enhanced my love and devotion to my earthly parents, Floyd and Mina Brown.
The short while I lived with Grandma, Aunt Fern, and Uncle Jess, I grew a little out of my shell. I sang in a quartet that sang many places and was in several dance festivals having a great time. And most important, Aunt Fern influenced me to go the BYU where I grew in my knowledge of the scriptures. I had tried to read them in my teens but it was like a log jam in my mind, but Reid Bankhead, an associate professor at the time really helped me. So I am forever grateful to Aunt Fern for her influence for good.
As was normal in the 1950s when a missionary came home from a mission he was asked to give a talk in Stake conference. Even though I knew few people in Mesa because of my brevity of living with Grandma and Aunt Fern, several relatives came up following the conference and told me of my relationship to them through my father's Reynolds and Sherwoods and my mother's Mortensens and Andersens who had moved into the Salt Valley area.
Within a couple of years after coming home I found myself in Las Vegas, Nevada and working in the opening of the first shopping center under one roof. It was the first of its kind in the country and as its success grew, businessmen from all over the US came to check it out. This was in 1955. It was a precursor to the modern Wal-Mart which began in the late 60s and early 70s.
I had been in Las Vegas a few days when I was asked to speak at a study group in the Stake. It was at the home of Merle and Beulah Frehner. These were middle age and older couples. At the conclusion of my assignment, I asked to be excused to go to the M Men and Gleaner fireside. Sister Frehner insisted that I stay for pie and ice cream. I mentioned I did not see any prospects for marriage at their home and I therefore would like to be excused. While Sister Frehner did not say it until after I married their daughter about ten months later, she said to herself that night, “You just wait till Judy gets home.”
Judy is a marvel. She plays the organ, piano, paints, leads Primary choirs, and helps me and our children stay on course. She was in a trio in high school, and we have sung a few duets, one in Hawaii at a convention. She has used the phrase many times with our children while giving us dinner. “We do not want to see any empty chairs at our table in Heaven.” She has supported me in my work and callings in the church faithfully and been a great economizing support. She does not always catch on to my Virden jokes, but when she raises her eyebrows I know to say, “Virden Joke.” We only fuss over one thing: who is going to go first. If I do, what will she do about the house and finances? If she goes first, will I take my pills and be able to feed myself?
After the Vegas Village Shopping Center experience, I was into the Group Health and Life Insurance business for some 35 years that allowed me my own time. That was a great feeling.
I taught Seminary for some 10+ years and was coordinator for one year. What a great program that gives the students tools to withstand drugs and pornography and gives them a head start at the beginning of their school day against the evils parading through the school halls every day.
My community service was with Boy Scouts for which I received the Silver Beaver Award. Most of my service with the Scouts was with Leadership Training, both adults and youth. My most rewarding was with the Woodbadge training of adults.
Additionally I was PTA President of the E. W. Griffith Grade school. One of the most satisfying experiences was with a few parents going to the DA's office and supporting a school teacher who had been falsely accused of abuse by two spoiled little boys who were very good basketball players, but would not play with the other boys. When benched by the coach for their conduct, they went to the principal and made false accusations. While the teacher was removed to another school it became evident that the boys were in the wrong. We have remained friends with this remarkable teacher through the years. In the middle of this process he and his wife were adopting two boys. It almost caused them to lose that opportunity.
Another satisfying experience was in my 40s, coaching the Explorers team of the 28th Ward when Coach Seamon was through. I was his home teacher and enjoyed going to the games and sitting behind him and watching his very successful method of coaching. They could not find a coach and because my son was on the team they said, “You have the job” and hung up the phone before I could answer. All the good players the former year had moved on so it was a total rebuilding year, including the new coach.
As I began coaching we had a former college player staying with us a few weeks and he showed me the box and one method of shutting down the most prolific player on the opposing team. Additionally I got girls to keep record of who was shooting from where and we would attack that area when they had the ball. The first year we got second in our stake and the second year we took Regional. It was very satisfying as the opposing team had a couple of guys up there over six feet and most of ours were six feet or less. But we had a little 5'9” sharp shooter and a guy 6' who had inner-spring-mattress legs that would get up there before their bigger guys could get the rebounds. So they really won the games.
My service as a Bishop of Las Vegas 50th Young Adult Ward for nearly six years was a fun experience. The young adults loved Judy and we witnessed about 120 marriages, most all of them in the St. George Temple. It is great to see some of them in the temple today not only as patrons, but as ordinance workers.
While serving as Bishop, Judy's cousin Barbara Lee got us to take time off each Wednesday night and join the Desert Chorale, a group of about 60 people. We sang in Mexico City at an Easter TV Broadcast and another year at the Juanajuato Festival in Mexico that invites Choruses from all over the world to participate. Not only did we sing at those events, but for local LDS church events too. We also went to Washington DC during the 500-year celebration of the discovery of America. Judy sang alto and I tenor.
In the drama of giving back, we have had four individuals live with us, one at a time. Three girls and one boy, all young adults while I was Bishop. All at different times. We learned to love each one of them and watched them grow through their struggles in much the same way Grandma and Aunt Fern and Uncle Jess gave love and a home to me for a while.
Another fun activity was serving in the Tokyo South Mission as English-speaking missionaries. When asked if we learned Japanese, we said “Yes, five words a day. The same five words every day.”
We now have slowed a little and Judy keeps me healthy and I work in the temple, the greatest senior citizen facility. A joyful place for meeting and working with other senior citizens. One of the greatest places for meaningful therapy and joy to the soul.
It has been a great life, with joyful moments, and challenging times that stretch us and bring us greater knowledge about life.
I am so grateful to have been born into this the Stephen Alonzo and Teresa Reynolds Brown family. I am grateful for my wife, children, siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles who have helped me grow by sharing their love.
I am grateful for holy writ and masterful poetry and articles by men with analytical minds that can help us see things more clearly. I love the third verse of “Ode to Immortality”, and writings of C. S. Lewis when he says something similar to this: “If you want to see what God looks like, look into the face of a child. For they are his posterity.”
I loved the knowledge that Grandpa Lon loved Holy Writ and knew it well. I also loved that Grandma Teresa loved and recited poetry. My wife Judy loves and reads poetry.
And I have an abundance of love for my first set of Parents, the parents of my spirit body and have great faith that I, my wife, my children and grandchildren and posterity will, upon our separation from this life, be received back into His home, remarkable place of glory and rest.
Information for Dewaine Martin Brown
Parents: Floyd Alonzo Brown & Elmina Mortensen
Birth: 18 July 1930
Place: Virden, Hidalgo, New Mexico
Sealed: March 3, 1954
Place: Mesa Arizona Temple
Spouse: Judith Rae Frehner
Spouse’s Birth: 31 May 1934
Spouse’s Birthplace: Las Vegas, Clark, Nevada
Spouse’s Birth Parents: Merle Frehner & Beulah Conger
Children
Gary Dewaine Brown (15 Dec 1954 – present)
Cheryl Rae Brown (16 Jan 1956 – present)
Thomas Dean Brown (27 Dec 1956 – present)
Barry Jonathan Brown (12 Mar 1958 – present)
Shawn Frehner Brown (23 Oct 1959 – present)
Elmina Ann Brown (20 Dec 1960 – present)
David Floyd Brown (1 Dec 1962 – present)
Marie Lavoun Brown (2 Aug 1964 – present)
Birth: 18 July 1930
Place: Virden, Hidalgo, New Mexico
Sealed: March 3, 1954
Place: Mesa Arizona Temple
Spouse: Judith Rae Frehner
Spouse’s Birth: 31 May 1934
Spouse’s Birthplace: Las Vegas, Clark, Nevada
Spouse’s Birth Parents: Merle Frehner & Beulah Conger
Children
Gary Dewaine Brown (15 Dec 1954 – present)
Cheryl Rae Brown (16 Jan 1956 – present)
Thomas Dean Brown (27 Dec 1956 – present)
Barry Jonathan Brown (12 Mar 1958 – present)
Shawn Frehner Brown (23 Oct 1959 – present)
Elmina Ann Brown (20 Dec 1960 – present)
David Floyd Brown (1 Dec 1962 – present)
Marie Lavoun Brown (2 Aug 1964 – present)