Gene Brown

Gene Brown passed away on July 12th, 2021, at the age of 85. He will be greatly missed by his large family, his church family, and many friends.
Verrol “Gene” Brown was born in Stroud, Oklahoma where he spent the early years of his life on the family farm. In 1940, with the depression lingering in rural Oklahoma, his family moved to Norman for his father, Brownie, to start a new job. In 1954, Gene graduated from Norman High School. That same year he married his high school sweetheart, Elizabeth Proctor and they were together for 66 years at the time of his death.
Thanks to years of working on cars as a teenager, Gene was a good, dependable, and hardworking mechanic by the time he graduated high school. He started his career at the old Studebaker dealership at the corner of Gray and Porter. In 1977, Gene opened Brown’s Garage, with a permanent location at 117 E. Tonhawa, where he provided excellent service, with many loyal customers, for 26 years until his retirement in 2003. During this period, Gene was also the mechanic and part owner of a successful racing team, with many wins on the dirt oval tracks of Oklahoma. Gene built his own engines, also introducing the first automatic transmission for dirt sprint cars, at that time. In his retirement, Gene enjoyed making wood crafts, which he sold at craft shows around the state with his wife Betty, where they made many new friends. Gene was a longtime member of Alameda Church of Christ, and the deacon in charge of vehicle maintenance.
Gene is survived by his wife Betty and by their five daughters and spouses, Debbie and Tom Gibson, Dorothy and Randy Henning, Karen and Steve McKinzey, Lisa Miller, and Tracy and Chuck Wilkinson. His extended family includes 10 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren, and 3 great-great grandchildren as well as his sister Betty Carson.