Byron Winfield Brown, age 93 of Greenville, Ohio passed away on Monday October 11, 2010 at Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, Ohio. He was born March 2, 1917 in Darke County, Ohio, the son of Vernie Oscar & Lottie (Develbiss) Brown who passed away in 1959 and 1990. He was married December 7, 1944 to Eleanor Jean Comolli of Piqua, who also passed away in 1990.
In Greenville he was employed by J.C. Penney Co., General Athletics Products Co., and Merit Shoes. He worked for Bonded Oil in Springfield and Toledo, and in Dayton he managed its station: later he managed Hygold Oil Station in Greenville. Mr. Brown was a welder at International Seat in Union City, at Crosley Radio in Richmond, Indiana, and at Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank, CA. In 1936-7 he served a six month enrollment in Company 584 of the Civilian Conservation Corps at Carrollton, Ohio and was discharged as Leader.
A 1934 graduate of Greenville High School, he earned at night classes on three continents an Associate of Arts degree at San Antonio College TX in 1956 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Military Science at the University of Maryland in 1960.
In 1940, Mr. Brown entered the Army National Guard at Covington, Ohio as private in Ohio’s 37th Buckeye Division, and for the next 23 years served in several states and in the South Pacific, Europe, Japan, and Korea, received 12 promotions, and retired at DeWitt Army Hospital, Fort Belvoir, VA, as Lieutenant Colonel (Hospital Administrator) after being commissioned in the Regular Army in 1947.
He remained in the medical service field, and in 1976 he fully retired concurrently from Commonwealth of Virginia and its City of Alexandria as supervisory environmentalist.
In 1991 he moved from Virginia to The Brethren’s Home in Greenville, where he continued his genealogy, performed officer and committee duties in local groups to which he belonged, and was a volunteer for CORSP and the Brethren’s Home.
Mr. Brown was a member of the Greenville Rotary Club, Darke County Historical Society, Darke County Republican Men’s Club, Friends of the Park, Friends of the Greenville Library, General Society of the War of 1812, 37th Division Veterans Association, and sons of the American Revolution, National Association of CCC Alumni, and American Legion. After donating funds and library materials to the Greenville Public Library, the genealogy room was named after him.
He was a charter member of the International Numismatic Society and the Notaries Public Association, and a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Etowah Cherokee Nation. In the Darke County and Miami County Genealogical Societies, he was a Pioneer member. In 1994 Mr. Brown became the second person from Darke County to be inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizen Hall of Fame, and in 1996 he was presented with Sertoma’s Service to Mankind awards at both the local and district levels.
He was a member of the Retired Officers association, the Warrant Officers Association of the United States, and the Ohio and National Genealogical Societies. A Registered Sanitarian at State and National level, he held offices and committee assignments in various health groups and became a Diplomat of the American Academy of Sanitarians, a Fellow of the American Public Health Association, and a member of London’s Royal Society of Health.
Mr. Brown authored many health, scouting, historical and genealogical articles for local, national, and international professional and service publications, and compiled a 4,500-page family history on Darke County’s Ahijah Brown, his descendants, kith and kin, and their ancestors.
Survivors include a daughter-in-law and three sons, Marylyn and Byron Craig Brown of Norcross, GA, Bruce Allen Brown of Manhattan Beach, CA, Gary Lee Brown of Lacey, WA, seven grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren, and Goddaughter Jamie McClung and her mother Angela McClung. His only sibling, Pauline McCleece predeceased him in 2003 also at the age of 93.
Having been baptized in the Evangelical United Methodist Church (formerly the United Brethren) he later affiliated with the Church of the Brethren. A memorial Service will be held on Saturday October 16, 2010 at 10:30 AM at Zechar Bailey Funeral Home, Greenville, Ohio with Pastor Steve Short officiating. The family will receive friends a ½ hour prior to services on Saturday at the funeral home. Veterans Services will be conducted by the Greenville Veterans Honor Guard. Inurnment of cremains will be held in Arlington National Cemetery Columbarium at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be given to the Brethren Retirement Community, the Greenville Rotary Club, or the Greenville Public Library. Arrangements are being handled by Zechar Bailey Funeral Home, Greenville, Ohio.
