[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 41 (Monday, March 29, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E466-E467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE OF ROBERT N. BROWN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MIKE PENCE

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 29, 2004

  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, Robert N. Brown's story began in Columbus 83 
years ago on May 7, 1920, when he became the second baby born at the 
Bartholomew County Hospital. He was born the son of Raymond S. and Anna 
Newell Brown. He married Alice Elizabeth ``Betty'' Frantz on Aug. 9, 
1947, in Columbus. He married Eloise Albert Sears on May 7, 1994, in 
Columbus. He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife on 
August 19, 1991; and a sister, Elizabeth Marshall.
  And Bob Brown was a family man who loved his family. He is survived 
by his second wife, of Columbus; a son, Jeffrey N. Brown of Columbus; 
daughters, Peggy A. Brown of Fountain Hills, Arizona, Rebecca E. Brown 
Thompson of Christchurch, New Zealand, and Susan A. Brown of Downers 
Grove, Illinois; stepchildren, Susan Sears of Briarcliff Manor, New 
York, and B.J. Sears of Los Angeles; a brother, Dr. Richard Brown of 
Phoenix; grandchildren, Zoran and Alex Gvojic, both of Downers Grove, 
Sarah DeClue of Chandler, Arizona, Erin Boggs of Scottsdale, Arizona, 
Cameron Thompson of Christchurch, and Christi and Ian Brown, both of 
Columbus; and two step grandchildren, Kelsey and Sayre Sundberg, both 
of Briarcliff Manor.
  Please know that each of you have our deepest sympathies and prayers 
in your loss.
  His daughter Susan told me this week, ``Dad always had time for us, 
and until I grew up, I never knew how unusual that was.''
  His professional accomplishments are equally extraordinary.
   Mr. Brown was the former publisher of The Republic newspaper and 
chairman of Home News Enterprises.
  A Purdue University graduate, he was a U.S. Army veteran serving in 
World War II and during the Korean War.
  He was named to the Indiana Newspaper Hall of Fame and received the 
Community Service Award from the Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor's 
Arts Award.
   Professionally, he served as president of Hoosier State Press 
Association and the Inland Daily Press Association and was deeply 
involved in the American Newspaper Publishers Association and the 
American Press Institute.
   He was an inventor, obtaining patents for a copy-cutting device and 
a composing room system for classified advertising.
   Among his community affiliations were Bartholomew County Hospital 
Board trustee, Hospital Foundation, North Christian Church, United Way, 
Rotary Club, Heritage Fund, Columbus School Foundation, Foundation for 
Youth, Columbus Jaycees and the Boys Club Council. He and his wife, 
Betty, established the Robert and Betty Brown Awards for Vocal 
Excellence. An instrumental scholarship also was added.
   And we will enjoy the product of that philanthropy throughout this 
service.
   His story ended Friday, March 19, 2004, at Shell Point Pavilion in 
Fort Myers, Florida.
  But that hardly tells the story. There is so much more to tell 
because Bob Brown was also a hero and an inventor and that story needs 
to be told as well.
  Bob Brown was a soldier. After graduating from Purdue in May of 1941 
Bob Brown went to work but would write in the family history, 
``Overshadowing everything we did was an ominous cloud of war.''
  Duty called. He enlisted in Army in 1942. Enrolled in the army school 
of advanced electronics at Chicago University and 2nd Lt Bob Brown, US 
Army Signal Corp reported to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey on 3 Dec 1942. 
An engineer by training, Lt Brown was schooled to operate a dramatic 
new top-secret technology known as Radar.
  On 22 January 1944, Lt Bob Brown shipped out for the European theatre 
aboard the Queen Mary. He arrived in England and helped assemble 
Starting Point, the first early warning radar system in the history of 
modern warfare.
  And he was there on 6 June 1944: D-Day. He wrote of that experience 
in the family history and I quote generously from his account of that 
time:

       One of the most dramatic days of my life was 6 June 1944. I 
     awoke to a deafening roar and leaped out of my pup tent to 
     find the sky filled with planes from horizon to horizon. 
     There were bombers and fighters from the Allied countries of 
     every size . . . All were either going or returning across 
     the channel. `My God! It's here'--the long awaited invasion 
     had actually come. We knew we were part of it, but when and 
     where?
       On 10 June 1944, four days later, the word came down. 
     ``Board an assigned landing craft with all vehicles at dawn 
     11 June and be prepared to land at Omaha Beach.'' The tension 
     and excitement were unbearable. Our time had really come . . 
     . As the beach neared, we all became quiet with apprehension. 
     What would it be like to face enemy fire?
       When we arrived at the beach we were relieved to see the 
     fighting had moved in land . . . For 100 miles around us, 
     including the southern coast of England, the northern coast 
     of France and the Channel between I could clearly see every 
     ship in the water and many vehicles moving on the land.
       . . . For that brief period the magnitude of the operation 
     overwhelmed me. We had actually landed in France! This 
     invasion had to be the greatest feat in history.

  Lt. Brown would serve courageously from D-Day to the Battle of the 
Bulge. After WWII, he returned to the service during the Korean War to 
train new heroes in the use of radar in combat operations at bases 
around the country.
  Years later, as the illness that would take his life clouded his 
mind, according to Peggy, it was the memories of his service in World 
War II that, ``Were the last memories to go.'' Almost until the end, he 
spoke with affection of the men and the times when his generation won 
freedom for the people of Europe and every generation that would 
follow.
  His son Jeff told me that even 50 years later, ``He felt his military 
service in World War II was the greatest contribution of his life.''
  And he was right. Lt. Brown was a hero.
  Accordingly, and in recognition of his service to the people of 
France, I have been authorized to posthumously present the Medal of the 
Jubilee of Liberty, minted on the 50th anniversary of the D-Day 
invasion to Robert N. Brown on behalf of the Regional Council of 
Normandy and the grateful people of France

[[Page E467]]

for his heroism in Normandy France during Operation Overlord in June of 
1944.
  And Bob Brown was an inventor. Having studied electrical engineering 
at Purdue University and serving as a radar technical officer during 
World War II, Brown was fascinated by new technologies and gadgets.
  And while he held two patents on laborsaving newspaper-production 
devices, it went deeper than that.
  As his son Jeff told me this week. ``He was an inventor. He wanted to 
invent something So he invented a newspaper.''
  Brown had succeeded his father Raymond Brown as publisher of the 
family-owned newspaper in Columbus, the Evening Republican (now called 
The Republic). Ambition and entrepreneurial spirit motivated Bob Brown 
in the early 1960s to start a newspaper from scratch, rather than 
buying an existing newspaper. It was, as Jeff would tell me this week, 
``His defining professional moment.''

  Foreseeing Johnson County's booming population growth in the decades 
ahead, Brown founded his newspaper, the Daily Journal, to cover the 
entire county.
  Brown spearheaded construction of the Daily Journal's first ever 
glassed-in plant on US 31, the first newspaper in the nation to be 
built from the ground up with the then innovative offset-press 
technology.
  The ``Journal Hill'' site north of Franklin took shape Sept. 14, 
1962. The 11,000-square foot glass-enclosed building allowed passers-by 
on US 31 to see the new Goss Suburban offset press inside.
  Offset printing was a technological leap forward. After a newspaper 
page was composited, it was photographed and the negative was rendered 
into a thin plate for the printing press. The innovation was less time-
consuming and labor-intensive than the old ``hot-type'' printing 
method.
  Publishers from all over the country came to Journal Hill to marvel 
at the new technology and this showman's glass wall display of the 
presses. Today virtually every major newspaper in America reflects both 
of these Brown innovations.
  The first issue of the Daily Journal rolled off the press on July 22, 
1963. Afternoon delivery was the norm at the time. From the start, his 
colleagues attest, Mr. Brown set the tone for the Daily Journal's news 
coverage: Fairness to all and special treatment for none.
  Howard ``Bud'' Herron, former editor and later publisher of the Daily 
Journal and now publisher of The Republic in Columbus, noted Brown's 
push for employees to excel.
  Herron recalled that Brown gave editors and publishers the freedom to 
make their own news judgments.
  ``He was a believer in the total integrity of the news operation,'' 
Herron said.
  And Bob Brown was a gentle man. As Dorothy Hayes, one of the Daily 
Journal's original employees, recalled last week in a story that 
demonstrated the rare combination of kindness and high standards that 
characterized his life. ``He was a perfectionist, and you tried so hard 
to do everything the way he wanted it done.''
  Hayes, now 70, remembered that Brown insisted on certain rules.
  ``He had this thing about Scotch tape. He didn't like it,'' she 
recalled.
  Hayes, who had just turned 30, had whimsically Scotch-taped a 
clipping stating ``Don't trust anyone over 30'' to her cash register. 
The boss was not amused.

  Brown wandered over and was talking to Hayes; and during the 
conversation, he nonchalantly scraped off the Scotch tape with his 
fingernail.
  ``He never said a word to me, but I got the message: `Do not use 
Scotch tape,' '' Hayes laughed. ``He was very meticulous,'' she added 
compellingly. ``He was the kindest man I've ever met, and the most 
fair.''
  And so he was. When I met Mr. Brown as a floppy haired junior 
highschooler, I was taken aback by his genuine interest in me and my 
future. He listened to my ideas and ambitions and always took time to 
gently challenge my plans and my thinking with a grandfatherly touch. I 
can still hear his voice during countless sessions in the Brown family 
living room, following one of my pronouncements about how I saw things, 
when he would gently say, ``Mike, you might want to look at that a 
little differently.''
  Bob Brown was a gentle man, an inventor, a hero and a family man.
  But make no mistake about it, Bob Brown was a leader too.
  As Bud Herron said, ``He didn't tiptoe through life. Everywhere he 
went he left broad, bold footprints.''
  And perhaps his peer and personal friend, Mr. J. Irwin Miller put it 
best when he said, ``Today this community lost one of its great sons.'' 
The former Cummins Inc. Chairman went on to say, ``The fact that The 
Republic is a thriving, fourth-generation family business is a 
testament to Bob's leadership, vision and hard work. He will be greatly 
missed by his family and by all of us who were honored to know him 
personally.''
  His devotion to his family, his service to America, his personal 
kindness; and his bold vision for his enterprise and our community are 
all the elements of a life of great quality.
  It is written, ``No greater love has a man than this that he should 
lay down his life for his friends.''
  Bob Brown put his life on the line for his nation, and laid down the 
balance of his life for his family, his community and the people of the 
enterprise to which he was born . . . namely . . . his friends.
  And we, his friends, bid him this tender farewell with hearts 
overflowing with gratitude to God for the privilege of having known 
this man . . . Confident that just a few days ago, this good man--his 
mind and memory restored--his body young and strong again--as he did so 
many years ago, stepped onto the sands of another shore into the warm 
embrace of Raymond, Anna, Betty and Elizabeth and heard those deserved 
words, ``Well done, thou good and faithful servant.''

                          ____________________