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Doris Elaine Huxman Brown, born on July 28, 1926, was the third child of four given to Elmer Huxman and Mary Louise Ummel Huxman. Born at home, she was preceded by her older siblings, dale and Ruth, and followed by her younger brother, Willis.
Her family lived on a farm one-and-one-half miles NW of Arnold, Kansas, in Ness County. Her extended family included numerous aunts and uncles as well as many cousins from both paternal and maternal lines. Her father’s brothers were all farmers who lived nearby. They shared farm equipment and helped each other with harvesting and livestock chores.
Doris’s parents were members of the Mennonite Church in Ransom, Kansas, which necessitated a six to seven mile trip to church on Sunday mornings and again in the evenings. Church attendance was not only a religious ceremony, but also an opportunity to visit family members related primarily through the Ummel side. Church was also required in Thursday evening for prayer meeting and study groups.
There Doris first discovered and interest in music and aspired to play the piano as well as her second cousin who was the church pianist. Her mother Mary also inspired her love of music. She was an accomplished pianist who Doris recalled carefully covering the piano Elmer had purchased for her, to keep Dust Bowl grit from the keys and hammers. Mary insisted that all her children take piano lessons.
When Doris was nine years old, her mother died in a home fire leaving her father broken-hearted and the four youngsters even more dependent on family ties. Elmer kept farming and served on the Arnold Scholl Board. He took a keen interest in his children’s academic and extracurricular activities. When Doris was at Arnold High School, she joined the basketball team, playing guard. Her dad was always ready to transport a carload of kids to out of town games and state tournaments. It was, in fact, at the 1941 state tournament in Hutchinson where Doris first met her future Husband, Elvin J. Brown, who attended McPherson College and was roommates with her older brother.
After graduating from Arnold High School in 1944, Doris moved to Ness City where Elmer lived with his new wife, Allene Long Huxman. She found employment working at a photograph printing shop mixing chemicals that magically turned negatives into recognizable and cherished photos. Her relationship with Elvin advanced through correspondence when he joined the U.S. Navy in September 1942. At Thanksgiving 1944, they decided on a December wedding. Stationed in Norman at the Naval Air Technical Training Center, the couple married at the Brethren Church parsonage in Oklahoma City on December 2, 1944. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Memphis Tennessee, where Elvin continued flight school and Doris worked at Lowenstein’s Department Store.
Returning to Norman in 1947, Where Elvin enrolled in law school at the University of Oklahoma, Doris worked at a local photography shop. She had a daughter in 1949, followed by another in 1951, and two sons in 1955 and 1958. Throughout the 50s and 60s, she was actively involved in the raising, education and after-school projects of her children. Along with maintaining a home, she supported and campaigned for Elvin’s judicial elections. Still, she found time to volunteer for Sunday school classes and summer Bible school at First Christian Church where she had become a member in 1958. She also volunteered at Norman Regional Hospital with the Auxiliary volunteers. As her children grew, she worked at the American Exchange Bank and later with Monroe Elementary School’s lunch program. Her love of music showed in her membership in the Sweet Adelines and her piano playing on a regular basis for various organizations. In later years, she worked with the local chapters of American Red Cross and the American Heart Association. Doris was very active in the Christian Women’s Fellowship group at her church as well as Masonic organizations, Amaranth and Eastern Star. With her children grown and independent, she joined Elvin at his private law office serving as receptionist and accountant until they both retired.
Doris was a devoted wife, mother and friend. She passed her passions for music and basketball (Go Thunder!) to her children as well as her spirit of volunteerism. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Elvin J. Brown; her brother, Dale Huxman; her sister, Ruth Huxman Meyer; and two children, Carla Annette Brown and Randal Elvin Brown. She is survived by her younger brother, Willis Huxman; her daughter, Rhonda Khae Bjork and her husband Daniel; her son, Douglas Allen; and her granddaughter, Bethany Celeste Brown.
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