Mr. James C. Brown, Galesburg Chapel
53, of Galesburg, Ill. died at 1:49PM Saturday, April 28, 2012 at OSF St. Mary Medical Center, Galesburg.
He was born on October 30, 1958 in Galesburg to Charles and Lois Nelson Brown. He married Joan Oliver in Galesburg on July 3, 1992.
James is survived by his wife, Joan; father Charles of Galesburg; a son, Joshua Brown of Galesburg; His grandmother, Theola Nelson of Paxton, Ill.; two brothers, John (Michele) Brown of Des Moines, Iowa and Joe (Lauren) Brown of Long Island, NY; two sisters, Sandra (Robert) Sherman of New Providence, NJ and Linda (Morris) Tammen of Thawville, Ill.; two step brothers, Bob Nelson of North Henderson, Ill. and David (MaryAnn) Nelson of Monmouth,Ill.; two step sisters, Nancy Boyd of Alexis, Ill and Donna (Bret) Benjamin of Knoxville, Ill. and several nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his mother and step mother.
Jim was a farmer working along with his step brother Bob. He also worked for Spee-Dee Delivery in Galesburg. He was a driver for Rogers Brothers. Before that he worked for Maytag and Farmland Foods for 12 years.
James was a 1977 graduate of Galesburg High School and a 1979 graduate of Carl Sandburg College. He was a member of the Messiah Lutheran Church and the Grange, both in Henderson Grove.
He served in the US Navy from 1983 to 1989.
Funeral services will be 10:00 AM Wednesday, May2, 2012 at Messiah Lutheran Church in Henderson Grove. Rev. Kurt Carlsen will officiate. Visitation will be from 5:00-7:00 pm Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at the Hinchliff-Pearson-West Galesburg Chapel. Burial will be in Henderson Grove Cemetery. Military honors will be provided by the Ralph M. Nobel American Legion Post #285. Memorials may be made to an Education Fund for his son, Josh Brown, c/o F & M Bank. Online condolences may be left at www.h-p-w.com.
I wish to extend to you and to members of your family my deepest sympathy on your loss. May the Lord’s loving promises comfort you and give you strength as you walk through this difficult time. On behalf of a greatful nation as an expression of appreciation for the honorable and faithful service rendered by your loved one. “Honoring Those Who Served-Ministry” (If you wish a personalized memorial card mailed to you with history of playing of taps, 21 gun salute, meaning of each fold of the flag as a keepsake, please send me your home address to where the card be mailed. Send to: Chaplain Richard Reuer, 1206 6th St SW, Minot, ND 58701. This is a free service to fallen veteran families.)
All our sympathies and prayers are with you during this most difficult time. Jim was such a wonderful man with a good heart and a natural smile that lit up the room. May you find strength in one another and remember the happiness he brought to all of you!
Our condolences and prayers to all of the families of Jim at this sad time,
We are all praying for you and your families. I know this is a difficult time. I know the pain you feel, I hope you turn to the Lord for healing and help you get through this. My condolences and prayers to you and the famililes… God Bless …
Josh-
I am so sorry to hear about your Dad. You will be in our thoughts.
Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe
Joan,
All of us at Nielson want to send our sympathies, thoughts, and prayers. We are so very sorry.
I am so sorry for your loss. My prayers are with all of you, at this difficult time.
Jim’s mom, Lois, was one of my mom’s favorite cousins, and Jim was one of mine. Some of my best memories are times at the Brown’s house with Jim and all the sisters & brothers & cousins laughing & playing and pulling pranks on each other.
Jim taught me about electric fences (how to casually grab a long blade of grass, convince the others to hold hands for some unrelated reason – and then casually lay that blade along the wire – & how NOT to be at the end of the line the next time someone else tried to pull the same thing!)
We didn’t get to spend a lot of time together because we always lived hundreds of miles apart, but we did get a chance to get to know each other again when I visited Illinois as a “grown up.”
The last time we got to visit for a while we talked about all kinds of things – mostly how fun it was to have kids because it gave us the excuse to really PLAY like kids again – but silly, simple things too.
We talked about things we remembered from our times with our grandmas & grandpas, aunts & uncles… learning what they liked and what they used to do when they were our age (whatever age that happened to be at the time…)
We ended up in a long, rambling conversation about the best way to serve vine-ripened tomatoes. We both remembered eating them with our grandparents (Wes & Theola for Jim, Con & Helen for me) and they all served them to us sliced thick and sprinkled with plenty of sugar.
My favorite was “sliced thick, then covered in pepper & mayonnaise.” Jim said his favorite was plucked off the vine or out of the basket and slung at the back of Bob’s or David’s or Joe’s head when they weren’t looking – just to be a little ornery.
I had a big plate of sliced tomatoes for dinner tonight and thought about Jim with every bite… some with sugar – some with pepper and mayonnaise – and the last one (the biggest & the ripest) slung at the fence, for Jim.
Knowing Jim has made me a better person – and my heart is with all of you who loved & mourn his passing. I wish you all of the comfort and healing you need to get through this sadness, and my heart is with you across the miles.