Wayne (Brownie) Brown
I was born on a farm 12 miles SE of Hugoton, Kansas on May 27, 1927. My parents were Frank Brown and Margaret Smith Brown. I lived on the farm and attended a one room, one teacher country school through the eighth grade. My dad had died on February 14, 1937 (Valentine's day never meant anything after that) This was during the dust bowl days and he had contracted pneumonia following being kicked in the ribs by a horse. The night he died we had another of the black-out dust storms. He was in the hospital in Liberal and under an oxygen test, but the dust still got in.
My brother who was going to Kansas State quit school and returned home to take over the farm. Following my graduation, Mom and I moved to Hugoton so I could walk to school. Not that I hadn't walked, more times than not, to the country school that was 2 1/4 miles away. Twelve miles was a bit long. High school was relatively uneventful.
World War II was on and almost all of us were anxious to graduate so we could join our friends who had graduated in past years. Joining friends was limited to those still alive!! Since I was only 17, my mom refused to sign my papers so I started to college.
At the end of the first semester I went to Kansas City and enlisted in the United States Merchant Marines. Had to fudge just a bit on the age.
I didn't do anything spectacular while in the Merchant Marines. I was a fireman/water tender on a tanker carrying aviation gasoline. We had a navy gun crew on board to man the guns. I had received training and knew how to fire them, but never had to.
Following the end of World War II, I started to work for Northern Natural Gas Company in Hugoton, Kansas - my old home town. I worked for one year and decided I wanted a college education. Me and the college system didn't bond and after one year, I returned to work for Northern Natural Gas Company.
Because of my one year in college studying engineering, I was assigned to the field engineering section. I worked in that unit until 1950 when I was drafted into the Army because of the Korean war. I ended up serving the majority of my time in Germany as a part of the occupation forces.
Upon discharge from the Army, I returned to work for Northern in Hugoton, Kansas. I was then transferred to Guymon, Oklahoma and then to Hobbs, New Mexico. This is where I met Lazine and June. We became good friends and following June's death, following a respectable time, we started going together and two years later we were married in Buster's and Evelyn's living room.
We were then transferred to Omaha and we lived there for seven and one half years. It was during; this time you came to live with us.. We were then transferred to Liberal, Kansas and remained there for about fifteen years. Then transferred back to the home office in Omaha. I retired in 1984 following a total of forty years service.
There were interruptions I previously mentioned. All together, Lazine and I were married a total, lacking 13 days, of 38 years. These were the best years of my life. I don't know where I would have ended up had it not been for her love. I miss her so much.
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