Uncle Kenny, Kenneth Brown.........

My mother had two older brothers.  This is her younger brother Kenneth Brown.  He was born in 1917 in Madison County, Iowa to the parents of Leroy and Mabel Brown. He is living in Murray, Iowa living an active life of helping boss a woman who is remodeling houses in the town, one house at a time.  I use the word boss lightly as they are a working friendship and she does most of the work, or hire's it out and he is there to give her advice and ask questions.  He is 93 and she is probably thirty years younger. Before he retired, he had been a farmer and then worked for a business as a salesperson for a Farm and Home business.


Of the two brothers of my mom's, Kenny is probably the closest to being like my Grandmother.  When I talked to him on the phone the other day, all of his verbal phrasing and voice reminded me of her. He also has an easy going attitude about life and you can tell that is some of his pictures that I am going to show you. 

Here is a partial section of a family reunion and the guy clowning around is my Uncle Kenny.  I assume this was taken in the 1930's.

This is my favorite photo of all times.  Is this not cool?  I have no idea who the two guys on the left are but Kenneth Brown is leaning with the attitude dressed in the light clothes. If you can date American cars you can date this photo for me.

Kenneth was married to Sylvia and had three boys, Bob, Don and Gene Brown. I grew up with them as they were similar in age to my brother older than me and myself. His youngest son lives in Murray near his dad and I see him often. The two older sons migrated to the Chicago area working for the phone company.

My grandmother took care of many people in her life, and late in her life she took care of her husband, night and day, while he suffered from a stroke. Kenneth, her son, took care of his wife in her later years, as she suffered from dimensia. He lived some really hard years for ten or more years caring for his wife until she passed away eight years ago.

His life now is a well deserved reward as he drives to a nearby town everyday for breakfast and he hangs out with the home restorer, giving advice and just watching. He is the last of my mom's generation and it is so nice to still have contact with him.

This last photo was of him in his Army uniform.  He went into the service at the same time as my dad in 1941.

For some reason I could not turn these into sepia without loosing contrast and detail. Good old black and whites are ok.

Check out all of my friends from all over the world, who are posting family pictures and stories on SEPIA SATURDAY,  by clicking here.