Mr. Samuel Blakey (Blake) Brown, 84, of Tifton, died Monday, December 2, 2019 at Legacy of Tifton. A memorial service will be held at Pinson Memorial United Methodist Church in Sylvester at a later date.
Mr. Brown was born on May 9, 1935, in Wilkes County, GA, to the late George Fanning Brown and the late Annie Ruth Taylor Brown. Childhood residences included Washington, Mount Vernon, and Sylvania. In 1946, he moved with his family to Wrightsville, where he graduated high school in 1953. Mr. Brown received an associate of arts degree from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) in Tifton in 1954, and a bachelor of science degree in education from Georgia Teachers College (now Georgia Southern University) in Statesboro in 1956. Mr. Brown taught math and science courses at Cochran High School before serving two years in the U.S. Army with the Signal Corps in Germany. Upon his honorable discharge from active duty in 1959, Mr. Brown moved to Sylvester, where he taught math at Sylvester High School.
From 1959 to 1963, he was assigned both active and inactive duty in the Army Reserve, as was the custom during that time. Mr. Brown began his 32-year-career with the United States Postal Service (USPS) in Sylvester in August 1960. He held many positions during his tenure, including acting postmaster, before retiring in 1992. In retirement, Mr. Brown volunteered with the Soil Conservation Service and the Margaret Jones Library until health issues forced him to stop. Mr. Brown was a member of Pinson Memorial United Methodist Church, where he served in many capacities since 1960. These included youth Sunday school teacher, chancel choir member, staff/parish committee chairman, board of trustees chairman, administrative counsel vice chairman, Methodist Men’s Club president and treasurer, and church treasurer (volunteer position). Since 2014, Mr. Brown had been a resident of Legacy Village of Tifton.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Glenda Bozeman Brown; parents, George Fanning and Ruth Taylor Brown; his brother-in-law, Reuben H. Neely; and his sister-in-law, Ruth Bray Brown. Family members include his daughter, Anne B. Bradford (Wayne) of Byron; grandson, Robert E. Eunice of Arvada, CO; brother, William G. “Bill” Brown of Statesboro; sister, Margaret B. Gilley (Cliff) of Bainbridge; brother-in-law, Walter O’Neal Bozeman (Connie) of Tifton; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be sent to The Methodist Home for Children and Youth, PO Box 2525, Macon, GA 31203 or to Pinson Memorial United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 118 Sylvester, Ga. 31791.
Banks Funeral Home in Sylvester was in charge of arrangements.
Banks Funeral Home P.O. Box 550 Sylvester, GA 31791 229-776-2055 Phone 229-776-5400 Fax www.banksfh.com