Robert William Brown

Born May 5, 1947

Death May 31, 2023

In 1944 Robert's parents Nathaniel Glen Brown and Inez Jean Dunsmoor met in California and married in a week. (It was World War 2, after all) After, the war, they moved to a small dairy farm near Burlington, Wyoming. Their first child, Robert, was born on May 5, 1947 in Basin, Wyoming. His siblings are Nancy, Ron, Karla, and Kevin.

During the Korean Conflict Robert's father was drafted, and the family had to sell the farm. Their livelihood gone, Robert's father later took a job as a lineman for the telephone company. The family raveled from town to town in South Dakota and Kansas, pulling a trailer behind their car. This experience made Robert decide to raise his future family in one place, so the children could stay in the same schools. (Later, he stayed in one neighborhood for 42 years.)

After graduating from Caldwell High School in 1965, he attended BYU for a year and then was called on a mission to Germany for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before he left, his family was sealed in the Salt Lake City Temple. Kansas was part of the Salt Lake City Temple district.

He went to Germany in 1966 for 2.5 years. He was sent to urban areas, including Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, and Essen. The areas were difficult and he helped baptize one young girl, 14 years-old, but hopefully many found interest as he taught them and bore his testimony.

One of the main reasons he returned to BYU was to find a wife who was a church member. In Caldwell, Kansas the family had to drive 40 miles on Sunday to go to church. Stake Conferences were in Wichita, Kansas which was 65 miles away. Meeting a church member was not easy.

Among the hundreds of church members at BYU, in 1971, he met Heather L. Rillera who was Methodist, but had already had lessons from the missionaries. In two weeks, they were engaged. (His parents teased him about taking so long to make up his mind.) The next month, he baptized Heather. The next year, in 1972, they married in the Provo Temple. This was the first year the temple was open. They spent over 50 years together and had three sons; Gregory David, Carl Lawrence (Emilee), and Geoffrey Herbert (Meagan), 12 grandchildren were born.

Robert loved to serve in the church and had many positions, including Bishop in the North Park 2nd Ward (Provo) and in the stake. He liked to walk the boundaries of the ward in the evening to make sure everybody was all right. He loved square dancing, coins, stamp collecting, birding, aquariums, and plants. He could probably make an artificial plant grow.

Robert was preceded in death by his parents. Survivors include his wife, children, grandchildren, siblings and their families, cousins, Hayley Scott Brown, and close friends Dave and Robyn Cohoon. He will be greatly missed.

A viewing will be held Thursday June 8, 2023 from 6-8 p.m. at Walker Sanderson Funeral Home at 646 East 800 North in Orem. Funeral services will be held June 9, 2023 at 10:15 a.m. at the Timpview 6th Ward church building located at 1050 North 600 West in Orem. A viewing will be held at 9:00-10:00 a.m. at the same location prior to the services. Interment will be at the Provo City Cemetery.