Raymond Lee Brown

Raymond Lee Brown, 94, passed away in McKinney, Texas, on August 23, 2025. In June 2024, he celebrated 70 years of marriage to the true love of his life, Kathryn Hall Brown, who preceded him in death in June, 2024.

Raymond was born on December 12, 1930, in Van Alstyne, Texas, to John Addison Brown and Winnie Oma (Cato) Brown. When Raymond was eight years old, he and his parents moved to Sherman and initially lived on Belden Street. His family soon moved to a newly constructed home on Lockhart Street where Raymond would spend his formative years. It was on Lockhart that Raymond and his father listened to Joe Lewis fights on the family radio and where he heard his favorite team the Cleveland Indians win the 1948 World Series. During this time, Raymond and his dog "Whitey" were inseparable, and Raymond organized sandlot baseball games with his friends on the nearby property that would later become Fairview Elementary School.

Raymond graduated from Sherman High School in 1948. While in high school, Raymond was a varsity member of the Bearcat basketball team, earned his Eagle Scout, and owned a 1938 Chevrolet as his first vehicle. After graduation, Raymond bell-hopped at the Grayson Hotel (where he liked to recount a silver-dollar tip from Roy Acuff!), entered North Texas State University in the fall of 1949 where he studied education, and earned his bachelor's degree in 1953 and master's degree in 1954.

While attending North Texas State, Raymond met Mary Kathryn Hall who was pursuing a bachelor's degree in speech pathology at nearby Texas Women's University. They were married less than two years later in Kathryn's hometown of Paris, Texas, on June 7, 1954. Raymond and Kathryn almost never left each other's side from the day they married, even when Raymond underwent basic training at the U. S. Army base at Fort Carson, CO, where he convinced Kathryn to repeatedly smuggle him in and out of the base in the trunk of their car so they could spend more weekends together!

Raymond's professional career spanned 40 years as a high-school math teacher mostly at Sherman High School. As an educator, Raymond was universally admired by his students and fellow teachers. Students knew not to be fooled by Mr. Brown's easy-going demeanor in the hallways or while selling Bearcat football tickets on Friday nights. His classes were focused, "loud-mouths" were not tolerated, and algebra equations were covered slowly and methodically so that all students could learn and progress together. Fellow teachers were drawn to his sense of humor while noticing that Raymond treated everyone at the high school with respect and kindness from the janitors to the high school administrators.

Raymond always had an all-consuming hobby. In the 1960's, he collected coins, but by about 1970 he discovered his true passion, which was collecting, restoring, and selling antique clocks. Raymond had an outbuilding at home, and in the early years, he routinely worked on clocks into the wee hours of the morning, only to come in when Kathryn shut the power off! In 1973, Raymond opened an antique clock shop in downtown Sherman with his dear friend Bob Hargesheimer. Over the next 45 years Raymond and Bob, along with Charles Nichols, enjoyed a brother-like friendship centered around pedaling antiques, laughing and making memories with fellow antique dealers and regulars who visited their shop.

However, the most important thing to Raymond was always his wife and four children. As a father, Raymond was supportive, encouraging and consistent. He instilled in his children the importance of family always showing up for one another. He demonstrated this by the way he treated his parents and wife Kathryn. Whether on annual summer trips to Galveston or around the kitchen table on a random school-night in October, Raymond could find humor in any situation. The levity he consistently brought to even serious family matters was rooted in his positive outlook and belief that everything would always work out.

In 1968, Raymond built and installed a purple martin birdhouse in the backyard after hearing that martins might eat mosquitoes in the yard. Raymond's oldest son, Charles, became obsessed with watching the martins. Raymond was patient and tolerant of Charles's interest, building more birdhouses and sometimes even resorting to hiding in his daughters' playhouse at first light to shoot a troublesome starling with a .410 shotgun! Partly as a result, Charles became a professional ornithologist and the world's authority on cliff swallows. Raymond reveled in telling people (often complete strangers) that Charles "went to Princeton and taught at Yale."

Raymond's relationship with his daughters was uniquely profound and he will forever be remembered for his fierce protectiveness and unceasing love, care and concern. Both parents will now be considered their guardian angels, watching over and fortifying them from above.

Youngest son Richard adopted his father's love of antiques at the age of ten. They would spend countless hours together at the shop repairing and restoring old clocks. Over the years, the antique shop became the setting for an immeasurable bond between father and son that went far beyond antiques and enriched their lives forever.

During his retirement years, Raymond was blessed with nine grandchildren who affectionally referred to their kind and light-hearted grandfather as "Biggie." Together, he and Kathryn were a model of solidarity and commitment that was felt by every family member and will be passed down for generations.

Raymond is survived by his sons Charles Brown (Valerie O'Brien) of Tulsa, OK, and Richard Brown (Jodi Brown) of McKinney, Texas; daughters Melanie Brown Oelfke (Bill Oelfke) of McKinney, Texas , and Sally Brown Alford (Bruce Alford) of Dallas, Texas; grandchildren, Travis Alford (Julia Alford) of Houston, William Oelfke of McKinney , Hank Oelfke of Corinth, Chase Alford of Dallas, Kate Oelfke Smith (Jake Smith) of Dallas, Rachel Alford of New York City, Meg Oelfke of McKinney, Jack Brown and Annabelle Brown of McKinney; and great-grandchild Barrett Cobb Alford of Houston. He was preceded in death by his wife Kathryn and by his parents, John and Oma Brown of Sherman.

Special appreciation for the loving care Raymond received goes to the always kind and generous nursing and care staff of Visiting Nurse Association and the staff at Village on the Parkway.