If the measure of a person’s popularity is how many parties are held to recognize them turning the century mark, Doug Brown takes the cake.
The longtime Flower Mound resident had not one or two but four celebrations of his amazing life starting on his actual birthday of Oct. 16 for residents of Riverwalk Flats where he and wife Clare reside. That evening his fellow Bunco players at the Flower Mound Senior Center threw a small party while his family met for lunch at Bistecca in Highland Village that Saturday. The final bash for nearly four dozen friends and people in organizations for which he has volunteered wrapped up the tour at Riverwalk Flats on Oct. 25.
Among the groups he’s worked with are Christian Community Action, PediPlace, Retired Senior Volunteer Program, and Citizens Patrol. For many years, he also was the official veterans’ liaison to the Town of Flower Mound. This included organizing the annual Salute to Veterans’ Day ceremony at Flower Mound High School that continues today. Brown served for more than two decades in the Army including during World War II.
Several who showed up for the final event were people the equally humble and outgoing Brown hadn’t seen in many years. Some even traded friendly barbs with him, a sure sign he’s still as alert as ever.
“I start it very often. It’s a lot more fun jabbing someone than not,” he said. “If I jab at somebody and they don’t return it, I figure okay it’s hello and goodbye and that’s the end.”
Still nimble for his age, especially on even footing, Brown does need a cane when outside his building. He no longer drives a car after some health challenges in the past year.
Brown, who grew up on a family farm near Joliet, Illinois, joined the Army Air Corps fresh out of high school in 1944. He served as a crew chief maintaining B25 and B26 aircraft which included riding on training flights at Sheppard Army Air Corps Base in Wichita Falls. After World War II ended 18 months later, he took a civilian job in the Joliet area. He reenlisted in 1948 and served in counterintelligence for 18 years. He retired in 1997 as a Chief Warrant Officer.
He married his first wife Maria in 1954 with whom he had five children. They moved to Flower Mound in 1984 when he worked as an independent contractor for American Express. Today he has nine grandchildren, and 15 great grandchildren scattered around the country.
After Maria died in 1998, he married Ann, who passed away in 2012. One year later, he married Clare, who was good friends with Ann. They all met through the Seniors in Motion program for which Doug and Clare served on the original board of directors in 2005. They were among the people instrumental in having the current Flower Mound Senior Center built in 2015, the same year he and several members of his family went skydiving when he turned 90.
“I enjoyed the jump at 90,” he said. “The first 40-45 seconds you are freefalling at 120 miles per hour. The ground is coming up. I pulled that ripcord and boy we came to a fast stop.”
He had planned to repeat the feat this year but was ordered by his cardiologist to skip it after having five stents and a pacemaker implanted after going to the hospital on Dec. 16 with five blockages of 90% each.
“I had pneumonia, I had a bleeding ulcer, then while I was in the hospital I had a heart attack. Best place to have a heart attack,” he chuckled.
He came home in a wheelchair on Jan. 4 barely able to walk but thanks to physical therapy has done quite well.
Though he has slowed down due to those health issues, he keeps his mind and body busy as much as possible which is his secret to his longevity. He continues the self-taught way of restoring old or broken personal computers nobody wants and has donated more than 1,800 of them mostly to veterans.
After previously visiting the Senior Center often – including multiple concerts, plays, and musicals – today he mostly just plays Bunco on Thursdays and attends the Janes and Joes Vet Connect program the second Friday each month.
Earlier this year, Flower Mound recognized his efforts for those who have served in the military by naming the Veterans’ Plaza at the under-construction Peters Colony Memorial Park in his honor. Other honors include the President’s Award from the Military Officers Association of America, the Texas Senior Volunteerism Award from the One Star Foundation, and the AmeriCorps Make a Difference Award.
Read more about Doug here.
