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In Memoriam

Denzil O. Brown - Class Of 1939

Denzil O. Brown, son of Clarence C. (1991-1938) and Eva M. (Miller) (1902-1963) Brown, was born 10 May 1920 Mason, Ingham County, Michigan.  Denzil graduated in 1939 from Okemos High School.  He enlisted in the US Army 28 December 1942 and entered service 4 January 1943.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Sunday 10 June 1945

BROWN - Pvt. Denzil. O. Brown a former Lansing machinist is now serving with the aero repair section at an Eighth air force air depot where battle-damaged fighter aircraft are repaired.  Private Brown, the son of Mrs. Eva Bullard, R. 3. Williamston, entered the army air forces in December, 1942, and left for overseas a year later.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Sunday 2 December 1945

Denzil Brown is back from overseas after seeing much action and has his discharge.

Denzil married Norma Jean Snively (1925-1970) in 1942 and the they had one son before being divorced.  Denzil  remarried.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Thursday 1 June 1967

GIRL HELD IN MASON SLAYING

DENZIL BROWN, 47, WOUNDED FATALLY AT HIS HOME

Mason - A young girl was being questioned today in connection with the fatal shooting of Denzil Brown, 47, as he sat in his kitchen reading a newspaper Wednesday.  He lived at 408 E. Columbia St.

Mason Police believe the man's 15-year-old stepdaughter might provide the answers to the slaying.  The girl, who at least twice was brought back to her stepfather's home by police after running away, following arguments, is in St. Lawrence Hospital.  She was taken there after Ingham Sheriff's deputies found her walking in the city soon after the shooting.

Brown, A World War II veteran and employee at White Motors in Lansing, was found on the kitchen floor.  He was dead when Ingham Coroner Jack B. Holmes arrived.  Sgt. Allen Winters of Mason Police said he died from a buckshot wound at the base of his neck, inflicted by a 18-gauge shotgun.

Carl White, a neighbor of the Browns, heard the shot at about 5 p.m. and called Ingham Sheriff Kenneth L. Preadmore, Mason police were also summoned.

It was the first Mason slaying in 20 years.

Besides his wife, Christine; Brown is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Candice Preadmore of Mason; a son, Marvin, Lansing; and two sisters, Mrs. Dorothy Green of Lansing and Mrs. Audrey Warren, Sault Ste. Marie.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday in the Jewett Funeral Home here with burial in Leek Cemetery.

The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Michigan) Thursday 1 June 1967

STEPDAUGHTER BEING HELD IN FATAL SHOOTING

Mason - Mason police today held a stepdaughter for question in the fatal shooting of 47-year-old Denzil Brown, of Mason, Wednesday night.

Police declined to identify the girl being held, because she is a juvenile.

Brown died of a shotgun wound at the base of the neck, said Sgt. Al Winter.

He said the weapon apparently was fired at point blank range.

Police said the slaying was the first in Mason in 20 years.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Monday 5 June 1967

MASON GIRL PLACED IN HOSPTIAL

A 15-year-old Mason girl, suspected of slaying the stepfather she frequently argued with, has been committed to Kalamazoo State Hospital.

Ingham Probate Judge James T. Kallman authorized commitment after two psychiatrists testified at a hearing Friday night that the girl was mentally ill.

Denzil Brown, 47, of 408 E. Columbia St., was killed Wednesday when a shotgun blast ripped through him as he read a newspaper in his kitchen.  It was Mason's first violent death in 20 years.

 

Denzil was interred, near his parents, in Leek Cemetery, Okemos.  His military headstone reads; CPL 21 Air Depot GP AAF (21st Air Depot Group Army Air Force).