Morris Elwyn Brown, longtime Rochester, N.Y. area resident, died peacefully with his family at his side at Cove’s Edge in Damariscotta on March 17. He was born in Vinton, Ia. on April 2, 1913 to Elwyn Gilchrest Brown and Helen Shockley Brown. The eldest of five children, he graduated from Oak Park High School in the Chicago area.
After graduating from Grinnell College in 1936, he went to work for Thomas B. Gibbs Company in Chicago. Morris and Edna Kingdon married on April 20, 1940 and settled in Delevan, Wis. where Morris continued his engineering work with the Gibbs Company, inventing the hairspring vibrator for watches and timing mechanisms. Morris and Edna moved with two young daughters to the Rochester, N.Y. area, in 1945, where he took a job with Eastman Kodak Company, then at Camera Works, developing and designing motion picture cameras and projectors.
In 1952 the Browns, now with four daughters, moved to the village of Fairport, N.Y. There, Morris served nine years on the Board of Education during a time of great population growth and increased school building. He and Edna were active members of the First Baptist Church of Fairport, where he served as treasurer for over 40 years.
An accomplished small plane pilot, and a member of the Rochester Flying Club, Morris enjoyed many flying trips with his wife and family after his retirement from Kodak in 1976. A long time member of the University Club of Rochester, he served on its board of directors for several years.
Morris was predeceased by his daughter Pamela Kenyon and her husband David.
He is survived by Edna, his loving wife of 67 years; three daughters, Paula Green and husband Bo Marks of Washington, Patti Brown of Lancaster, Penn., and Jenni Johnson and husband Dick of Newcastle; sister, Patricia Werry of Arlington Heights, Ill.; four grandchildren, Nate Kenyon, Amanda Cederman, Jesse Brown-Collins, and Jamie Hood; and six great-grandchildren.
There will be a gathering in Maine of family and friends in honor and loving memory of Morris this summer.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his name to the First Baptist Church of Fairport, Restoration Fund, 92 South Main St., Fairport, NY 14450 or the David Beale Kenyon Fund for Enrichment of Art & Music in the Dresden School, 270 Cedar Rd., Dresden, ME 04342 (attention Mary Walsh).
The family has entrusted Strong Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 612 Main St., Damariscotta.
