Matthew Brown Sr

Matthew Alexander Brown, Sr. was born on November 19, 1934, to Margaret L. Bolden and Samuel McDowell in East Gulf, West Virginia. The family moved to Charleston, West Virginia where he graduated from Garnett High School. He became a welder at Walker Machinery Company and later retired with over twenty-five years of service. He also worked at Purity Maid Bakery and the Daniel Boone Hotel. Quick witted “Uncle Matt,” as people affectionately called him, had a million stories to tell, and everyone that knew him has at least one story to tell about him. He could brighten up the darkest day and absolutely refused to let the trials of life get the best of him. He loved the outdoors and enjoyed taking his children (and anybody else that would go) camping, hunting and fishing. Matt loved his church, New Covenant, and was active in every aspect of it. He served as chairman of the Diaconate, chairman of the Trustee Board, a member of the choir, the Men’s Ministry, the Finance and Pastor’s Aide committees, chairperson of the Bus Ministry and overseer of the maintenance program. He never missed Sunday School or Bible Study. He truly loved driving the church bus and transporting the children in the after-school program. They all called him “Paw Paw,” and every day, around 2:15 p.m., he would drop what he was doing and say, “….Gotta go haul these Africans.” Community service was his middle name. Matt departed this life on Wednesday, October 27, 2010. He was preceded in death by both his parents, his brother Alfonzo June, his grandparents Alfonzo and Lillie Brown, and a granddaughter, Sha’lyn J. Brown. He will forever be loved and missed by his devoted wife of thirty-three years, Carol L. Brown; sons, Matthew Alexander Brown, Jr., Lloyd Michael “Big Mike” Brown of Killeen, Texas, Michael Kenyale Brown of Charleston and Michael Anthony “Lil Mike” (Caprice) Brown of Colorado Springs, Colorado; daughters, Stephanie Belinda Brown, Cassandra Jean Brown, Michele Antoinette Brown and Teresa Renae Brown-Johnson (Donald) of Charleston, Monica Rae Brown (Mustapha Butler, Sr.) of Columbus, Ohio, Famica Jaute’ Brown of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dewana LaVerne Brown of Columbus, Ohio; brother Carl Edward “Eddie” Gray; sisters, Mary Gray and Marva Gray all of Charleston and Susan (Robert) Dean of Missouri; grandchildren, Calinda (Solomon) Wright, Lauren Brown, I-easha Armistead, Jala Brown, Mustapha Butler Jr., Sherrod Brown, Sheldon and Marissa Brown; Ny-Tahau, Ian, and Sophia Brown, and Adrian “AJ”, Dominique, and Dashauna Pope; great grandchildren Israel and Tyran; and a host of other relatives and friends. Matthew was too happy to learn that his soon-to-be born grandson would bear his name. He had a different saying for every occasion, and whenever he ran into a situation that didn’t make much sense he would say, “That dog won’t hunt.” His greatest desire was to see the people of this world, especially his family, come together in love. Let our tribute to him be to embrace each other in that love that he showed us all. Anything short of us doing that will quickly prompt him to say from heaven, “That dog won’t hunt.”