Jerrold Brown

St. George, UT- On December 28, 2019 Jerrold Steele Brown passed away peacefully, holding the hand of his sweetheart, Terry Welch Brown, at the age of 89 years old. Jerry and Terry were married April 20, 1956 in Cowley, WY and have shared 63 wonderful years of marriage.

He is survived by his Wife: Terry Welch Brown, Children: Kerry Edmonds, (Ken Phillips), Debbie (John) Legge, Charles (Jenny) Brown, Heather (Jesse) Brown, Angela (Randy Reed), and Chantel (Colby) Petersen, Siblings: Merrilyn Brown, 22 grandchildren, and 36 great-grandchildren.

Jerry was preceded in death by his Parents: Flora and Eldon Brown, his two brothers: Haldon and Don Brown, his children: Garry Brown, and Julie Phillips, and Granddaughter: Brooklyn Petersen.

To celebrate his life, a service is scheduled for

Friday, January 3, 2020 at 11:00am

at the LDS Chapel on 82 N. Dixie Dr. St. George, Utah

There will be a receiving line at 10:00am and a viewing/family prayer at 10:30am

Graveside services will be held

Saturday January 4, 2020 at 1:00 p.m.

at the Lehi Cemetery, 385 E. Cedar Hollow, Lehi, Utah

Eulogy

We are honored to be able to read the Eulogy of Jerrold Steele Brown and want to recognize Chantel Petersen and Nicole Nielsen for writing this Eulogy.

Jerry and Terry have;

8 Children

22 grandchildren

36 great-grandchildren

So how do you fit 89 years’ worth of memories, accomplishments, tears and laughter into just a few minutes and try to do justice to a man who touched the lives in one way or another of so many people he came to know and even those he didn’t know?

Throughout different times in his life he wrote down things of importance to him and often shared stories of the past.  With his words as guidance we will share some of those with you.  His humor and wit were something unlike any other and he found himself, far more than anyone else, quite entertaining which, is notable in his writing.

On December 28th, 2019, Jerrold Steele Brown passed away peacefully, holding the hand of his sweetheart, Terry Welch Brown, at the age of 89. Jerry and Terry were married April 20, 1956 in Cowley, WY and have shared 63 wonderful years of marriage.

Jerrold (Jerry) was born during the great depression in Bellingham, WA on September 11, 1930 to Eldon Austin Brown and Flora Bell Steele. Jerry was the third of four children in his family. His earlies memories of his youth included time with cousins playing cowboys and Indians, having to help with chores and disgruntled farm animals, picking apples in the orchard with his brother to take with them to read comic books while salting apples as a treat “and running wild” as he liked to remember.  Looking back on his childhood he said his favorite color was his red hair and when he grew up he wanted to be 18 years old!

Throughout his early years and into his 20’s he lived in WA, ID, UT, WY and Montana.  He lived in Delta, Utah, near family for a few years before moving to Provo, Utah. He grew up just blocks away from Brigham Young University, where he spent the majority of his childhood and attended elementary school on into junior high. He also had a paper route in which he delivered to many places, one of which was the Utah Power Plant this was during the time of the WWII and there were many things rationed or not available as they were sent overseas to the soldiers.  Some of those items where candy and gum.  He however realized the Power Plant had a vending machine that was exempt from the rations and many wondered where he got his “goods”.  Needless to say he had many friends during that period of time that he never knew he had until then.

His family moved to Cody, WY just as he was beginning his first year of high school. In the 11th grade he made his only claim to “fame”, when he won the 1948 boxing championship title in the lightweight division for the Wyoming Golden Glove.  He wasn’t a very good student according to himself and in the 12th grade at the age of 17 he left school and home and joined the US Navy.

While enlisted, he worked as the chaplain’s secretary and in the library on the USS Thomas Jefferson in which it took him further from home than he had ever been.  While in the service he completed his high school education and had opportunities to travel to Mexico, Panama, Cuba, Hawaii, Midway Island, Wake Island, Guam, New York City, and San Francisco. He returned home after 1 year of active duty to be in the reserves for an additional 6 years.  However, before his reserve time was up, he was called to serve an LDS mission for 2 years which brought him back to the San Francisco area to serve in the Northern California mission.

After returning home from his mission, Jerry met the love of his life, Terry Welch, at a formal dance, “the Gold and Green Ball”. He described her as being “drop dead beautiful”. She was out of reach however, as she was on a date with somebody else. But he never stopped fantasizing about that long haired, red-headed, dream girl, and said that he compared every girl to her after that. A couple years later while working in Billings MO, they met again through a mutual friend at a stake conference. Her hair short now, he didn’t recognize her. Terry describes Jerry as being “a breath of fresh air” when they met and said that he “made her life exciting”. They were married a short time later in Cowley, WY. It wasn’t until two years into their marriage that they were talking about a Gold and Green ball and discovered that he had married his dream girl after all! He loved telling that story, he was always so proud to be married to Terry. They were sealed as a family, in 1968 in the Oakland, CA temple.

Together they have 8 children; Garry, Kerry, Julie, Debbie, Charles, Heather, Angela, & Chantel. He would say that they raised “three families”. Their “first family” consisted of raising their first five children, each a year apart. Their “second family” came 16 years later when Heather was born. And their “third family” was 12 years later when they adopted their granddaughters, Angela and Chantel, at ages 1.5 and 2.5 years old.

He was given the opportunity to work for Lockheed Missile and Space Corp., so in 1958 they packed up the family and  moved to California.  They intended to stay a couple of years and move back to Wyoming, they ended up staying in California for 33 years.  While living in CA he worked in the plumbing, refrigeration and air conditioning industry for Lockheed Missile and Space Corporation, Satellite Test Center and Ford Aerospace all while running a drapery business with Terry for 17 years, where most of their older children have memories working. It wasn’t uncommon for Jerry to be working two jobs at a time to provide for his family.

After retirement, Jerry moved his family to St. George, Utah, where he didn’t stay retired long, he describes getting “cabin fever”, and decided that he wanted to get out to see more of the country. He worked driving semi-trucks for about three years. He loved this job and only discontinued after he lost his left arm in a trucking accident, which put him into permanent retirement.

Although Jerry claimed that he was not a good student he had a passion for learning and becoming an expert in anything and everything that interested him. Those around him recognized his creativity and innovativeness. He used his talents to help and serve anyone he could. He loved problem solving and could take anything apart and put it back together, better than it was before. He was known by many as “Mr. Fix it”.

Jerry took flight lessons and learned to fly airplanes, getting his private license, solely for pleasure. After some years into his first retirement, Jerry began attending lapidary classes where he learned to work with silver, and to cut and polish rocks, which he transformed into beautiful jewelry. He gifted many of his jewelry-pieces to family and friends. If you take a look around you, many of his family are wearing some of his art.

He loved serving those around him, he was always willing to lend a hand, tools, a car, even his own home on countless occasions, providing shelter and security for many friends and family members over the years. Jerry and Terry have never been “empty nesters”.  From the time they were married they have had brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, grandchildren and friends living with them in addition to their own children.  It was often filled with laugher, children playing, probably some shouting, and the TV blaring with his favorite shows.

Our parents have been blessed with numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren which have brought tremendous joy to their lives.  Some of his favorite memories were spent with them at Mac’s Inn on the Snake River at the cabin which they owned for many years.  He enjoyed teasing the Grands and pulling pennies out of their ears and various other magic tricks, sharing candy, taking them on trips, showing them his inventions, telling them jokes, making things for them, teaching them things, convincing them of things that we still question may not be factual and giving them love like only he could.  He loved being a grandpa and could often be found bouncing a baby on his knee, drawing them pictures, tickling, relaying stories, and the favorite, singing them songs. He loved his family and getting everyone together was always a top goal.

At one time, he was asked what were some of the big news moments in his lifetime that stood out to him; he said “ Pearl Harbor, World War II, end of the war, Korean War, his mission, JFK assassination, and the first man on the moon.

He collected many friends throughout the years and was a loyal one. He had a way of drawing people to him. To know him really was to love him. He took pride in being a good neighbor, no matter where he lived, and always served diligently in his various church callings even most recently showing concern to make sure the church was cleaned.

In the most recent years  Jerry and Terry enjoyed attending the temple regularly with their temple group of friends each week, and always looked forward to that sacred time together.

Jerry had a deep devotion for his Savior, Jesus Christ. He was ready and willing at any time to offer a blessing. His testimony was unwavering in the face of adversity, and heaven knows he had a lot, ranging from accidents, to loved ones lost, injury, and life disappointments, his faith is where he drew much of his strength.

He could best be depicted for having a fun sense of humor. He loved to tease and share jokes, and really just brighten anyone’s day with a laugh. He read the funny papers religiously and was an animated story teller. His laugh was infectious and usually came with a mischievous twinkle in his eye and a boyish grin. He loved to tease and mix things up by causing some sort of trouble.

He was the head of our family and the patriarch of the Brown family for all of our lives and was half of the dynamic duo of stability for our family, to which the void will be felt by all of us.  Yet, despite missing him and missing all that encompassed our father we know that he is leading us from above next to our father in heaven to continue his work up there.

He was the rock to his family and so many others, and already leaves an irreplaceable void. He will be greatly missed by many, but the knowledge that he is in the loving embrace of our Savior and no doubt celebrating happy reunions with his loved ones gone before, brings us immense peace.