Obituary: George Wayne Brown

George Wayne Brown had the reputation of being able to do or build anything. He was a devoted engineer to his core: he designed and built an energy-efficient house, an airplane, a sailboat, a hydroplane, an electric car, and learned the arts of knife-making, woodcarving, tying flies, cooking, drawing and painting, and carpentry. For Wayne, it was not whether one could do it, but how one can do it. He was also an accomplished fly fisher, holding a world record.

Wayne was born in Jacksonville, Texas to Launa Gertrude (Rusk) and James Lonnie Brown. He was an all-American football player for Athens High School in 1965, and attended Rice University on a football scholarship. He had a 30 year career in the canning business, working for Athens Canning Company and Bush Brothers. He was an inventor, earning several patents. Highly respected in his field, he was sent to post-war Iraq on a United Nations mission to assess canning systems in Kurdish territories. While working for Malo, he had the opportunity to travel to many countries, which inspired a love of foreign travel. He fished in Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America. He rode the Trans-Siberian Railway, walked on the Great Wall of China, fished the Amazon River, and happily partook in every opportunity life presented. Wayne had a great sense of humor, treated every person he met with the highest level of respect and fairness, found the good in every situation, and was always willing to try new things no matter how unusual. Despite his many accomplishments, Wayne was a very modest man, always willing to laugh at himself, and often attributed his own successes to luck or others’ ideas.

Wayne died surrounded by family at home on May 2, 2015. He is survived by his wife, Delia Caldwell Brown; his sisters, Peggy Brown and Jan Penner, and her husband, Keith Penner; his son, Wade Brown, and his wife, Ginny Brown; and his daughter, Helen Leong, and her husband, Eric Leong; and three grandchildren, Holden Brown, Oscar Leong, and Delia Leong. He was a devoted husband, brother, father, and grandfather.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Project Health for Leon, a clinic in Nicaragua. P.O. Box 30953, Raleigh, North Carolina 27622-0953. EIN 56-1917546. Or a charity of your choice.