Merrill Brown

1928 - 2023

Merrill Brown
May 4, 2023
Bethune, South Carolina - William Merrill Brown, 95, passed from this life on Thursday, May 4, 2023. He was born in Plains, Georgia, on February 13, 1928, to R.A. and Irene Bowen Brown. He attended school in Plains, Georgia and Alexandria, Virginia, then graduated high school from Gordon Military Academy of Barnesville, Georgia. He enlisted in the Marines and was sent to California on the way to Japan, but the war ended before he shipped out. After graduating from Clemson in 1949, he worked in Greenville, SC, in the mill industry. He married Bobbie Duffie and they had a daughter, Candy Brown Sullivan Krusa, both now deceased. He came to Bethune, SC, in 1956 to work at Kendall Mills, and eventually became the plant manager for over 20 years. During that time he earned an MBA degree from the University of South Carolina. After retiring from Kendall Mills, Merrill served on the Board of Directors of Sandills Telephone Cooperative for 24 years. He served in many various ways to better the community - as head of United Way of Kershaw County, as a member of the Town Council of Bethune, as a member of Kershaw County School Board, and as District Governor of the Lions Club just to name a few. He married Martha Little Aiken in 1986, and the had a long happy life together. They have two sons, Lee Aiken (Patty) of Greensboro, NC, Michael Brown of Hopkins, SC; special friend, Edward "Blaze" Hayes of Greensboro, NC. A memorial service to honor his life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at the Bethune Presbyterian Church. Dr. Guy Oliver and The Rev. Sanders Read will officiate. The family will receive friends following the service at the church . An inurnment will take place in Woodlawn Memorial Park Mausoleum, Greenville, SC. The Directors of Brown-Pennington-Atkins Funeral Home and Crematory is caring for the family.