John Frederick Brown was born March 18, 1893 and passed away August 4, 1989.
He was born in Wray, Colorado to parents John and Rosa Brown. They moved to a farm in Leedey, Oklahoma in 1903.
In 1913 John left Leedey for Arizona along with the Ellis family, Walter and Samantha and their children. The trip by wagons and teams took three months, as they worked along the way to earn money to keep them going and to rest the horses.
John and Birdie Ellis were married in Los Lunan, New Mexico on their trek west. An interpertor was necessary as the Judge who married the could not speak English.
John ran a trucking business in Florence, Arizona until leaving for California in 1936 where he worked in the Utility Department of a local water company where he eventually retired from.
John and Birdie were the parents of five children.
The survivors are Lora Forrester, Wesley Brown, Irene Crow and Carol Cooper.
John is survived by his wife, Birdie of 75 years; two sisters, and one brother, Clara Hendershot of Clovis, New Mexico; Lena Purtee of Olympia, Washington; and Arthur Brown of Tujunga, California; twelve grandchildren, twenty four great grandchildren and three great great grandchildren.
John was the brother of Otto Brown who resided in Leedey most of his life and is now deceased.
Burial was in Rose Hills Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California.