 Lt. Col. Dr. Carey Edward Brown Jr. passed away peacefully at his villa at Plantation Village in Wilmington, NC on April 19, 2018. An adored and beloved son, Ed was born July 20th, 1932 to his parents Carey E. Brown Sr. and Mary Jane Moore Brown of Pitt County, NC. Two older sisters, Ruth and Rachel, completed the Brown Family with roots in the rural setting of Bethel, NC. That early farm life experience formed the backdrop for an immense curiosity and love of nature that provided the mindset of the love of learning and how things work. As a youngster Ed developed an insatiable natural interest in taking things apart and reassembling them just to see how they functioned. Ed's deep spiritual heritage and faith was nurtured greatly as a young teen by family attendance at Bethel Baptist Church. Always serious about his studies, Ed excelled academically while attending Bethel Elementary and graduated from Bethel High School. His undergraduate studies began as a freshman at East Carolina University. He then transferred to North Carolina State University where he earned a BS degree in Agricultural Education. As an Air Force ROTC graduate, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant beginning a 20-year military tenure as a Communications Intelligence Officer and Air Force Academy Professor. While serving in the Air Force he attended graduate school at Duke University, receiving a Master's Degree in 1967 in Biology with an appointment to the Air Force Academy faculty in Colorado teaching physiology. In addition, Ed was the coach for the Air Force Academy Skeet Team (1967-73). With much practice he became a serious competitor earning quite a collection of trophies and awards. Later, while on the Air Force Academy faculty, he began his doctoral program and completed his PhD in physiology in 1974 from Colorado State University.
In 1954, two months into his Air Force Career, as Ed often said, he gained the life mate that God designed for him, Evelyn Anne Thigpen Brown from Goldsboro, North Carolina. They were married in the Goldsboro Friends Meeting in December 1954 prior to their first assignment at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Ed frequently and dotingly expressed the following sentiment, "Anne and I have been greatly blessed all our lives, and we are very thankful for the interesting lives that have been ours to enjoy." They were married for 62 years prior to Anne's death in 2016. While in the military, Ed and Anne traveled extensively and lived not only in Alabama but California, Texas, Colorado, Libya, Turkey, and Thailand, with many tours of Europe. Ed was fortunate to have two distinguished careers. First, after 20 years of military service, he retired in 1976. Subsequently, after a 25 year career in the field of education at Louisburg College, he served as Academic Dean, Executive Vice President, and finally, Interim President until his second career retirement in 2001.
In addition to Airforce Officer and Academia, Ed was also an artist with many creative hobbies. He loved hunting, fishing, working with stained glass, wood turning, golf, skeet shooting, computers and photography. Civic minded, Ed was active in the Rotary Club of Louisburg for 30 years, serving two terms as President. As a member of Louisburg Baptist Church in Louisburg, Ed served as Deacon Advisory Board Chairman, Sunday School Teacher and Editor of the church newsletter, The Tie. He served as the webmaster and photographer for the Garden Club of North Carolina, earning honorary lifetime membership.
Friends and family will gather at the church on Saturday April 28, 2018 at 2:00 pm for a memorial service to celebrate Ed's life with Reverend Reggie Rushing presiding. The Church is located at 302 Main Street, Louisburg, NC. 27549.
Our beloved Ed is survived by his sister, Ruth Brown Whitley of Charlotte, NC, a host of loving extended family members, and longtime caregivers Faye Miller, Lynette Watkins, Melissa Penny, Corinne Leontieff, Amy Wetherell, Susan Penny, Clara House, and Amy Jones. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Louisburg Baptist Church, 302 N. Main Street, Louisburg, NC. 27549. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.andrewsmortuary.com.
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