George Knight BROWN

     George Knight BROWN, son of Francis Horatio BROWN and Frances May ABNEY, was born on 22 October 1922 in Maplesville, Chilton County, Alabama.

George Knight BROWN appeared on a census, enumerated 21 April 1930, in the household of his parents Francis Horatio BROWN and Frances May ABNEY in Maplesville, Chilton County, Alabama. George K. Brown was recorded at 7-years-old and attedning school.¹

George Knight BROWN appeared on a census, enumerated 21 April 1940, in the household of his parents Francis Horatio BROWN and Frances May ABNEY in Maplesville, Chilton County, Alabama. He was 17 years old and in his third year of high school.²

George was registered for the draft during World War II on 30 June 1942 while living in Clanton, Chillton County, Alabama. He was 19 years old and employed by E. I. Dupont in Childersburg, Alabama. He was discribed as 5' 11", 170 lbs., with brown eyes, brown hair, and a ruddy complexion.³

George Knight BROWN served in the U. S. Army during World War II between 1942 and 1946 in Europe and the Pacific. He enlisted 10 Dec 1942 in the US Army Signal Corps and entered service 9 Apr 1943 at Auburn, Alabama. He had one year of college at that time. He was a pipeline construction foreman in the 138th Engineers Petroleum Distribution Company with a rank of Tec 5. He served in the Europeon theatre until the surrender of Germany, first in the Rhineland and then in Central Europe (Germany). He was then shipped out to the the Phillipines in the Pacific. He was stationed on the Bataan peninsula training for the invasion of Japan. He was part of the occupation army in Japan following the surrender. He was discharged 11 Feb 1946 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.⁴ He was an insurance agent for John Hancock Life Insurance. He built a very successful business in Birmingham, and for a time in Germany. After returning to Alabama he made his home in Mountain Brook. He graduated in 1948 at Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Auburn, Alabama. He majored in industrial management and, along with his brother Rasch, was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity. He also attended the University of Kentucky.⁵

George married first Helen LAZENBY on 26 February 1949 in Saint John's Episcopal Church, Montgomery, Alabama. She was the daughter of the late Elbert Kenneth Lazenby and Maibeth Crook. Her step-father was Richard Malcolm Houston. She also attended Alabama Polytechnic Institute so perhaps that is where they met.⁶

George Knight BROWN and Helen LAZENBY appeared as head of household on a census enumerated 13 April 1950 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. The household was listed as George K. Brown, a 27-year-old life insurance agent and his 21-year-old wife, Helen L. Brown, a service representative for the telephone company. They lived at 7401 Division Avenue. George and Helen were divorced in May 1951 in Montgomery, Alabama.⁷

George married second Norma Jean TURMAN on 11 March 1961 in Bluff Park Methodist Church, Birmingham, Alabama. It was a formal wedding in the chapel of the church for family only, with a reception afterward at home of George and Lorene Turman at 742 Valley Street in Birmingham. The honeymoon was a trip along the Gulf coast.⁸

George Knight BROWN was identified as her surviving husband in Norma Jean TURMAN's obituary in the Birmingham News newspaper, dated 6 October 2009, published in Birmingham, Alabama.

George Knight BROWN died on 23 November 2018 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, at age 96. He was buried on 29 November 2018 in Abney Cemetery, Randolph, Chilton County, Alabama.