Willie E. Brown

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Willie Edward Brown passed away  Sunday. June 8, 2025, at the age of 90. He was born in Faunsdale, Alabama on August 21. 1934. the eldest of three boys born to John T. Brown (TT") and Viola Brown (nee Zinnermon). JT and his brother George Brown married sisters, Viola and Leona, and Willie's earliest years in Alabama were spent in a closely-knit, extended family comprised of his parents, uncle George and aunt Leona, brothers. John and Claude, and several cousins.

After the untimely death of his mother Viola in 1947. Willies facher was remarried to Sadie Coleman Brown, and their union produced a fourth son. Willie's youngest brother, Thomas. Willie made the decision to move north to Buffalo at the young age of 16, joining relatives who had relocated years earlier. Despite moving north, Willie never lost rouch with his roots in Alabama. His stepmother Sadie Brown remained a loving and supportive presence in Willies life over many decades, and he would faithfully visit Sadie and other family in Alabama each summer well into his 70s.

In 1955, Willie was introduced to Helen Norman by his good friend Sam Jones, who had recently married Helen's sister Eunice. They fell in love and were joined in holy matrimony by Elder Otis Stephens on April 13, 1957, at the Mount Zion Church of God Holiness. After meeting at the wedding, Willie's brother John started dating and eventually married Helen's sister, Carolyn Inez Norman, repeating a pattern from his parents' generation.

In 1956, Willie found employment with General Motors (GM) as a mechanic. A military veteran, he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1957 and stationed at military bases in South Carolina, New Jersey and West Germany. He was honorably discharged in 1959 and returned to Buffalo to begin raising a family. In the early 1960s, Willie, along with cousins James and Les Brown and brothers John and Claude, decided to start a side business, operating a gas station and auto repair shop at the corner of Broadway and Sherman Streets.

Willie earned an associate degree from Erie County Community College, and in 1978 was promoted at GM to the position of foreman of the Machine Repair division, where we worked until he retired in 1992. After retirement, he worked for the Buffalo Public Schools (Tile I Services) as a bus driver and spent. lt was a fin of the Buffalo spors teams and enjoyed playing banda bowling tying out new recipes, and solving word games and puzzles. Willie was active in the church from an early age. Ara young boy.

Willie attended the Bethlehem Missionary Baptis Church, t Allenville, Alabama, where he served as secretary of his Sunda School class. He later joined Mount Zion Church of God Holiness where he served on the usher board, and was eventually asked to serve as a trustee and a deacon. He was a faithful and reliable church member, always willing to help out as needed, whether shoveling snow after a storm, assisting with church finances, or working t the kitchen. Willie was a devoted and loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfacher who never failed to provide for his family. Wile is survived by his wife of 68 years, Helen R. Brown: four children: Angela Brown Muhammad, Carolyn Brown, William Brown, and Jelfrey Brown; brothers Claude F. Brown and Thomas N. Brown: four grandchildren: Timothy Moore, Russell Moore, Amir Jackson. and Shariah Jackson; seven great-grandchildren, and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

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