Robert J Brown

Robert J. Brown passed away on the 2^nd day of December 2017. Services will be held at Rose-Neath Funeral Home in Mansfield, Louisiana on December 5, 2017 at 11:00 AM, with visitation prior to the service. Bro. Wayne Roberts of Woodsprings Baptist Church will be officiating. Burial will follow at the Grand Cane Cemetery, Grand Cane Louisiana. Mr. Brown was born October 31, 1926 on the Brown family farm at 415 Brown Road in Grand Cane, La. a part of the Wood Springs Baptist Church Community. He was reared in the oil field towns of East Texas and South Louisiana where his father was employed by the Texas Oil Company. Mr. Brown was preceded in death by his parents, Charles Alton Brown & Claudie Jones Brown, and his grandparents, Ed Brown & Robbie Gamble Brown and Jack M. Jones & Beulah Williams Jones. He is survived by his cousins, Robert J. Davidson and wife of Linda, Don Jones and wife Jo Ann, and Joyce Smelley of Mansfield, John Davidson and wife Judy, Mary Dark & husband Tom of Shreveport, Sammy Brown and wife Linda, Mike Brown, and Randy Brown of Grand Cane, Martha Ann Hunter and husband Dean of Marietta, GA, and Marquise Conaton Sopher of Salt Ste., Marie, Canada. Mr. Brown graduated from New Iberia High School in 1944 and served as a Hospital Corpsman in the United States Navy in World War II from January 24, 1945 until July 29, 1946, with overseas service at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Guam. He graduated from Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now USL-Lafayette) in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a teaching certificate. He taught at Slidell High School. In 1957, he received his Master's Degree in social work from LSU School of Social Work, following field work placement at North Little Rock Veterans Administration Psychiatric Hospital. Mr. Brown's career as a social worker spanned 37 years in federal & state service. He was a founding member of the National Association of Social Workers and received recognition as an active 30-year member of the Louisiana Conference of Social Welfare. He was also a founding member and president of a social worker labor union and lobbied for reasonable workloads and adequate pay. From 1961-1966, he served as administrator of the Lake Charles Regional Office of Family Security, supervising seven parish offices. He retired as administrator of Desoto Parish Office of Family Security on June 30, 1983. After retirement, Mr. Brown became a rancher, raising fine Red Brangus cattle from 1983-1996. In 1997 he began tree farming and The Louisiana Forestry Association designated his farm as a "Centennial Family Farm", honoring his family's occupancy for 100-plus years, dating back to the mid-1830's. As an amateur family genealogist, Mr. Brown was proud of the local public service of his ancestors. One ancestor served on the original Desoto Parish Police Jury, on subsequent police juries, on the school board and as a Justice of the Peace. Mr. Brown was a compassionate person who generously used his U.S. Navy Corps experience and social work skills to help ill and elderly neighbors and relatives. Honoring the life of Robert as pallbearers will be Robert Davidson, John Davidson, Horace Womack, Sammy Brown, Mike Brown and Randy Brown. Memorials may be made to the Grand Cane Cemetery Association through Progressive Bank in Grand Cane, La.