Robert Hutton Brown, Jr., 85, died on May 5th at home in Pulaski, TN from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. The visitation will be 4:00 until 6:00 Sunday, May 7th, 2017, at Bennett-May-Giles County Funeral Home. The funeral service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Pulaski on Monday, May 8th at 2pm with a reception and visitation to follow in the Fellowship Hall. A private graveside service will follow the reception in Fayetteville, TN.
Mr. Brown was born in Fayetteville in 1931. He moved to Pulaski with his family as a young child and attended school in Giles County as well as Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1953 and then served in the Navy as Lieutenant aboard the Battleship USS Iowa until 1956. He married Helen O’brien Caulkins of Lookout Mountain, TN in 1958 and settled back to Pulaski in 1960 to join his father as a partner in Brown’s Car Center, a General Motors automobile dealership. He sold the dealership in 1988 and continued working there until his retirement at age 74.
In addition to his business contributions to the community, he served the community in several volunteer capacities. He served as president of the Pulaski Exchange Club and the Giles County Chamber of Commerce. He also was actively involved in supporting the mid-state region of the Boy Scouts and Martin Methodist College. He was on the board of the Giles County Public Library and the Pulaski Help Center. He was life-long Presbyterian and was ordained and installed as an elder of the First Presbyterian Church in December 1975. He was an extremely kind and generous man who rarely thought of his own wants or needs. He was a devoted husband, son, brother, father and grandfather and will be greatly missed by his family and friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents Robert Hutton Brown, Sr. and Mildred Rodes Brown and his sister Roberta Brown Hagan. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Helen Caulkins Brown, his sister Betty Brown Perkins, sons Robert Hutton Brown, III and David Caulkins Brown, and grandchildren Emma, Lucy, Ben and Lily Brown.
The family wishes to express its sincerest gratitude to the loving women who cared for Hutton for the last few years. The kind spirits of Sheila Glover, Sally Aldrich, Michelle Aldrich, Diana Leslie, Marlon Houston and Cheryl Buell allowed the family the peace that he had the best care possible.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Pulaski, the Giles County Public Library or the Pulaski Help Center.
Bennett-May-Giles County Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
