James F Brown III (1920-2012)

As captain of the QE2, 1994

50th Wedding Anniversary, 1999

NY's Eve (Jim's Bday), 2003

In the NYC Harbor on the QE2, 1994

At Cathy & Moody's Wedding, 1980

Xmas card ~1966

At Mt. Snow, 2002?

 

At Edgewood CC, 2009?

At the Greenbrier, 1995

At the Greenbrier, 1995

Charleston Gazette obituary 12/19/2012

James F. Brown III, 91, passed away on December 15, 2012, at his home in Charleston, West Virginia.

Jim Brown was predeceased by Catharine L. Hart, his wife of sixty-one years. Canky and Jim are survived by their three sons, Charles C., Jeff (JF IV) and his wife, Patti, and Edward D. and his wife, Bryan; and three grandchildren, Molly, Davis, and Emily. Jim is also survived by his sister, Trudy Lynch of Hilton Head Island, S.C.; and her three children and the children of his deceased brother, Ben B. Brown, Jr., and his deceased sister, Betty (Mrs. J. T. Moore, Jr.), and their families, and many, many cousins and friends, all of whom he loved and cherished. He was greatly loved and admired by them, as well.

Jim Brown was born December 31, 1920, in Charleston, West Virginia, the second child of Benjamin Beuhring Brown and Hester M. Newhall. He was named for his grandfather, James Frederick Brown and attended local schools before attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. He graduated from Princeton University in 1942, and recently attended his 70th class reunion. Immediately after college, he entered the U.S. Navy and served in both the Atlantic and Pacific during WWII. After WWII he earned his law degree under the GI Bill from the University of Virginia and entered into law practice with Jackson, Kelly, Holt, and O'Farrell, (formerly Brown, Jackson & Knight), following the chosen profession of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Judge James H. Brown. Later he formed an enduring law partnership with Angus E. Peyton which lasted until 2005, and then continued to practice with his son, Jeff at Brown and Brown Law Offices, refusing to retire and continuing to be al! ert and independent.

Jim Brown was active in business, being the President of the West Virginia Building and Loan Association, President of Eagle Land Company, and a director of One Valley Bank Corp. He was a lifelong member of Kanawha United Presbyterian Church, where he was an elder and a property trustee. He was also very generous and supported many charitable and educational organizations, including the Legal Aid Society of Charleston, which he helped establish, and gave to the West Virginia University Libraries, the University of Charleston and the Clay Center.

A family interment will be at Mountain View Cemetery on Friday, December 21, with a memorial service to follow at Kanawha United Presbyterian Church at 2 p.m., followed by a reception at the church immediately afterwards. The family also thanks Paula Jones who has been Jim's devoted caregiver since Canky died in 2010.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial gifts may be made to Kanawha United Presbyterian Church, or to any of the schools or organizations named above, or to the donor's charity of choice.

ML visit

Had a nice visit from ML.  We didn't do much but it was great having her here.  She took that nice pic of Zoe and Zelda.  The bottom picture is from Robert's holiday party from work.  ML helped me get ready for the upcoming holidays.

Morocco

Just completed a week's tour of Morocco and this is my fav pic - me riding a camel in the Sahara.  I loved it. I forgot my camel's name, but she/he was the biggest camel they had.  I felt like they thought I was the biggest person there.  It is true that I was taller and heavier than the ladies from the Philippines who were on our tour but I think there was at least one man who was larger than I.  Anyway- we rode out at sunset to the high sand dunes and watched the sun set in the west and the full moon rise in the East - it was amazing.

But I should start at the beginning. I had a great time with Mary Laurel and Robert before starting my tour.  Robert's parents, sister, brother and brother's girl friend came to eat turkey, tatters, pancit, lumpia, and other yums.  Earlier that day I went over to see the Guihers and Chamblees with Ned and Royal.  ML and Robert did a great job hosting 11 for dinner.  Many thanks to them and the Bileks for a super T-day.  It was very special to be able to share the day with Ned and Royal.

Cathy Dippo and I left from BWI the day after Thanksgiving for our 8-day bus tour around Morocco.  We flew in and out of Casablanca but took a large bus all around.  Our luggage did not arrive with us.  They were apparently still in NY after we arrived in Casablanca.  We made several trips to various airports but only succeeded in getting Cathy's bag, mine was still in NY or Paris or someplace so I spent the tour without my clothes.  I borrowed some stuff from Cathy and Rosa, so I only had to pay for laundry once. My bag stayed at the airport in Casablanca until I returned there a week later. So I checked it when I came home and amazingly it arrived in BWI with me.



Two Cathy's in the Meknes Medina



















There were 34 on our tour with Hassan as our native tour guide.  There were solo ladies that we hung out with: Rosa from So. Africa, Sharon from Canada, Marcella from England, and Jacqui from Australia.  There were 3 other couples from the USA, one from Singapore, one from Australia, and the rest were a sub-group from the Philippines with their tour coordinator.


Fellow tourmates: Sharon, Rosa, Jacqui, and Marcella

Complete tour group

On the second day we drove to Rabat and Meknes and saw some temples and Medinas (old town). Then on to Fes where we spent 2 nights.  We walked through the Medina and Kasbah which was fun.  We crossed the middle Atlas mountains in the snow and had one night in Erfoud with the camel ride in the desert.  We had one night is Ouarzazate (where they filmed "Lawrence of Arabia"), crossed over the high Atlas mountains then had 2 nights in Marrakesh which included walking around the square at night with snake charmers, belly dancers, and lots of people and food.  The last night included dinner at Rick's Cafe as in the film "Casablanca".  There were long bus rides from Fes to the dessert and from Fes to Ouarzazate.  Below are some pictures to give you the idea. We saw lots of date palms and olive trees in the Oases (which were in the valleys).  Several of us has an amazing hammam scrub with black soap and massage at the spa in Marrakesh (no pics of this, please).

Our Berber camel boys

Meknes Medina

Noontime on the Oasis

Hassan as a Saharan "blue" man

Borrowed clothing...

High Atlas Mountains

Horse carriage ride in Marrakesh

Dancing..

Joining the band...

Berber Tea Service



 

 

Pretty windy at sunset in the Sahara

Here's looking at you, kid!

 

Veteran's Day

Everybody is putting up pics of their Dads who were in the War (aka WWII).  Alas, the pic I have of my Dad in his uniform is nicely framed and hanging high on my wall - so I took a pic on my iphone and put it up as well.  See for yourself.

Lt. Commander John M. Wilson, USN

Today was the Sing-thru for Pirates of Penzance which the Durham-Savoyards will be producing in March.  Can't wait to audition - though there is not much alto in the chorus- mostly all soprano (ie, bevy of beautiful girls).  My new bar arrived last week from Restoration Hardware.  It's based on an old wallpaper cart.  I really like it.

The vegetarian business is not going too well, though I have not bought any meat at the grocery store.  I'm still eating up meat from the freezer. I had a week off of playing tennis so my arm got some rest.  This coming week I play almost every day, however.  The time change is rather depressing- makes for longer nights and the cold means I can't sit out on the porch or the courtyard.  I'm looking forward, however, to spending Thanksgiving with Burt-Bileks in Bmo, then off to Morocco where I can sing "Midnight at the Oasis". 

Halloween 2012

I believe today was the first day I can remember in a long while that I didn't have appointments or commitments so I have frittered the day away making focaccia and doing some trip planning.  A few weeks ago I took a bread baking class from a local lady and it was wonderful.  We made rustic Italian bread, challa, cracked wheat, cinnamon rolls, and focaccia.  She gave us some tips that I never thought of before: use a paper towel to clean the bowls so your sponge doesn't get nasty, use bread machine yeast and don't bother proofing it, don't worry about the temperature of the water (just not too hot), and take the bread's temperature to see if done (~190-200 degrees).

I don't think my roses will be blooming much more this season as it will be close to freezing this week at night. But here's a pic of some today with a nice card from cousin Catharine.

 

I was in DC last weekend to see former colleague, Rob, in two Egyptian plays.  I was surprised to see the set decorated with art from an artist I met almost 30 years ago in Hyattsville.  I had bought a piece for my mother, but now I have it, wish I had more.  Had dinner before the plays with Linda and Susan from NCHS.  Spent Saturday afternoon with Catharine and Deborah and we played two rousing games of "Salad Bowl" with the Chamblees. Saw Mary Laurel for dinner Friday night and we traded chairs.  I gave here Moody's W&L chair, and she gave me a Restoration Hardware floor model that I admired.  It's now in my guestroom.  Doesn't it look nice?  Wouldn't you like to come visit and sit in it?

I was surprised to receive a local magazine in the mail from the lady who did the specifications for my closet office space, based on my design.  She had taken a picture of it and submitted it to this magazine and it became the cover story for home improvements.  I feel like I've won an award.

Talked with John Mac today and arranged to visit the Terry's in early March at the end of my Key West trip with Cathy Dippo.  But first, my Morocco trip is coming up fast, better start looking for my passport. 

Early Autumn

The leaves are beginning to turn and fall on the ground in Chatham Co.  Zoe and Zelda and I have been out walking quite a bit and last week I went kayaking with a tennis friend here.  It's so nice that the kayak fits inside my car so I don't have to heft it up onto the roof of the RX300.  The full moon paddle event from a few weeks ago was rained out so it was good to get out and paddle on the lake last week.  My neighbors returned home from spending the last 6 months in Vermont so it's good to have them next door again. 

Linda McCaig and I had an article published in Annals of Emergency Medicine this month about how researchers should use the NHAMCS data.  My new mattresses are very nice on the twin beds.  The ones that were there were bought by my mother-in-law about 80 years ago.  They had Mattress Stamps on them- one from South Carolina and one from Florida.  Not sure what that was about: like a tax on interstate movement of mattresses or something. 

I went to a speed dating event in Chapel Hill about 3 weeks ago--very interesting if not productive.  The ladies sit at numbered tables and the men move from one table to another in numerical order.  A bell is rung every 5 minutes to signal the shift.  At the end you hand in your paper with the specific ID numbers of the persons you'd like to talk with further.  The organizer then emails you a list of the mutual choices for you.  Not sure I'd go to another but enjoyed it once.

Last week I cleaned my cook top's downdraft vent for the first time.  It was disgusting.  Underneath it was about 8 inches of captured grease that had been accumulating for 4 years.  I did not know it had to be cleaned out every month.  Sooooo, I thought maybe I should become a vegetarian.  For about a week I have tried not to have any meat, eggs, or cheese.   Mostly I find that I am hungry between meals which I am not usually.  Not sure how long it will last but it's interesting to find new foods to prepare.

I hurt my arm playing tennis a few weeks ago so was glad for all the rain that cancelled about a week's worth of tennis so my arm could rest.  It still hurts but I can use it.  I'm off to DC next weekend. Looking forward to hopefully seeing Mary Laurel and Robert.

Fiddle Recital

This afternoon was my very first fiddle recital.  There were about 10 of us ranging in age from about 6  to at least my age.  I played WV Hills and Old Joe Clark with a guitar and banjo backup.  One woman payed classical violin for many years before learning to "fiddle" and her vibrato made her tunes sounds way better than the rest of us.  At the end we played some group tunes including Tennesse Waltz, Sail Away Ladies, and Irene's Waltz.  It was fun and I don't think I messed up.