Marshall Loren Brown, "Brownie," was born on February 8, 1924 to Ira S. and Mildred (Knox) Brown of Farmington NH. He was a 1942 graduate of Farmington High School, where he played baseball and basketball and dreamed of becoming a pilot. He joined the US Army Air Corps in October 1942 and served as navigator/bombardier in B-25 Mitchell medium bombers for the 490th Bomb Squadron operating in the China-Burma-India Theater, attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Nearsightedness prevented him from becoming a military pilot, but later in life he was proud to have obtained his private pilot's license. He married the late Winifred Norma Morrison of Farmington NH on June 2, 1946 and they were the parents of Marshall L. Brown Jr of Ferney-Voltaire, France; Richard A. Brown of Carmel, IN, and Catherine Brown Abrams of Charleston, SC.
Brownie received his bachelor's degree magna cum laude from the University of New Hampshire in 1949, where he was elected to the Phi Kappa Phi honorary society, and a master's degree in English from Harvard University in 1951. He began his career as an English teacher in 1955 at Culver Military Academy in Culver IN, and, after retiring from Culver, spent several years teaching at Ancilla College in Donaldson IN. He was the author of several books on English grammar and was selected to grade English Advanced Placement exams for the College Entrance Examination Board for a number of years. He was particularly happy to have been among the early supporters of high school hockey at Culver, which recalled his winters as a boy in Farmington on the Mill Pond. He served as assistant varsity hockey coach to teams that traveled to international tournaments and to Indiana State championships, including the first three state championships for Culver.
In addition to his three children, he was blessed to have eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his brother, Lawrence K. Brown, sisters-in-law Barbara Johnston and Mary Lou Monnat, brothers-in-law Edward Morrison and Rodney Monnat, nephews Larry Brown and Brian Monnat, and nieces Gail Merrill, Pam Merrill, Karen Checho, Diane Fox, Nancy Rayburn, Brenda Wright, Holly Brown and Deborah Monnat White. After the death of Winifred, he was married to Emily Sayles of Clyde, Ohio for 25 years.
Brownie remained active throughout his life through camping and mountain hikes with his family, ice skating, skiing, running, golfing, and biking. He also enjoyed drawing, painting and woodworking, and those items continue to be cherished by his family. He passed peacefully on March 3, 2017 in Noblesville IN. Service will be held at the First Congregational Church in Farmington - where he and wife Winifred were married - on Friday, March 10 at 11 AM. Spring burial will be at the Pine Grove Cemetery in Farmington.
Visiting hours will be at the church, preceding the service, on Friday from 10-11 AM.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in his memory to the First Congregational Church, 400 Main Street, Farmington, NH 03835.