On the day he died, Rodney Brown hopped on his 2013 Harley Davidson motorcycle and rode 50 miles. His wife, Nancy Ann Brown, said he drove to visit his mother, showed off his bike to a cousin and dropped in on an old friend.
“He just loved getting out in the outdoors,” Mrs. Brown said. “And he loved to ride.”
Riding, said his family, was just an extension of his love for the outdoors, for exploring different things.
“He always loved going up to the North Georgia mountains. It was always a spiritual experience for him,” said his son, Andrew Brown. “He was always like, ‘Andrew, we need to get up and go to the mountains.’ That is the way we would get away and relax. Just the ride would give us time to relax, talk and check out the scenery.”
Later that day, Mrs. Brown found her husband passed away in their home. Rodney Fields Brown of Dallas died Sunday from heart-related causes. He was 65.
A former Cobb County police officer, Mr. Brown’s funeral will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the Carmichael Funeral Home Chapel in Smyrna.
“There were no signs of trauma, no signs of stress,” Mrs. Brown said, adding that her husband had worn a pacemaker. “He had gone to sleep. He just didn’t wake up.”
Mr. Brown was born Oct. 24, 1947, to William Edward Brown and the former Clarice Irene Martin in Marietta.
He graduated from Osborne High School in 1965 and enlisted in the United States Marine Corp in 1967. He spent four years on active duty, serving as an embassy guard in Saigon, Vietnam and Sydney, Australia.
“When he was in Saigon, he told me that they had to walk around and check everything,” Mrs. Brown said. “When they were walking around, they could hear bombs going off in the distance constantly.”
By 1971, Mr. Brown had returned to the United States, where Nancy Ann was waiting for him. The two were engaged in the fall of 1967, while he was in basic training at Parris Island.
“I wasn’t afraid for him. I just missed him,” Mrs. Brown said of his service time. “I was confident he was trained to be where he was. I just missed him.”
The two had met while sophomores at Osborne and became high school sweethearts.
“We met in biology class. I thought he was the cutest boy I had ever seen, with the cutest smile,” Mrs. Brown said. “We were teamed up in pairs. He was partnered with me and he did the dirty work. He was my hero ever since.”
The two married in 1972 and had two sons, Russell of Rockmart and Andrew of Athens.
Fresh out of the Marines, Mr. Brown shifted into his new civilian life as a Cobb police officer.
“He already had the military training, so it was something he just fit into,” Mrs. Brown said. “He always got along with people and was such an outgoing person. He tried to get out there and make things better for people. It was more a calling than a job.”
He retired as a lieutenant in 2003, determined to ride his Harleys, hike and spend time with his family, particularly his three granddaughters.
“That is what hurts me the most,” said son Russell, a Cobb County firefighter, who had also followed his father into the Marines. “He loved his granddaughters more than anything. He never had any daughters and they just thought the world of him. Every time he would go somewhere, he would just show their pictures to everybody.”
Along with his wife; his mother, Clarice Martin Brown of Marietta; and two sons; Mr. Brown is survived by his brother, Randy Brown of Woodstock; and his three granddaughters, all of Rockmart.
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