Eldon Spencer Brown Jr.

Funeral services for longtime Wisner Town Marshal and WWII veteran Eldon Spencer Brown Jr., 97, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 12, at Wisner United Methodist Church with the Rev. Fran Guy officiating. Visitation is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the church. Interment will be at South Central Baptist Church Cemetery under the direction of Mulhearn’s Funeral Home of Winnsboro. Brown died Monday in his home as a result of injuries and complications sustained when his truck was rear-ended in an automobile accident. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Dorothy Mae Wright Brown of Wisner; sister-in-law Vivian Brown of New Orleans; niece Belinda Hazel and her husband Donald of Belle Chasse; nephew Harry Viener of Hammond; and a number of great-nieces, nephews and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents, Georgia Sheffield and Eldon Spencer Brown Sr.; a brother, Col. Charles S. Brown; and sisters Doris and husband Eddie Viener and Belle and husband Robert Warner. Brown was born May 26, 1917 in Wisner. He was a lifelong member of the Wisner United Methodist Church and a graduate of Wisner High School. He worked for the Louisiana State Police in Alexandria for two years before he was drafted into service in the U.S. Army in 1943. He served with the 201st Military Police Company, from which he was selected to serve as an aide and escort to General Dwight Eisenhower, commander of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. He escorted military convoys, guarded prisoners, executed police patrol functions and escorted top military and political figures, including General George Patton, Harry Truman and Winston Churchill. He was also part of the D-Day Landing on Omaha Beach and was involved in the liberation of prisoners of concentration camps at the end of the war. Brown served for nearly three years in England, France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. When he returned home, Brown was immediately recruited by Wisner leaders to serve as town marshal during a time when the town was a busy (and sometimes rough and tumble) commercial hub for the surrounding agricultural and lumber industries. Brown held that position for 28 years, retiring in 1974 to return to his first love – raising cattle. Until the end of his life, Eldon Brown was a familiar figure on the streets of his hometown – tall, straight, always wearing his cowboy hat. He was loved and respected for his strength, character, humor and unwavering devotion to God and country – and Miss Dorothy Mae. He will be greatly missed by the community he served so faithfully. Serving as pallbearers will be Mopey Carroll, Mike McDonald, Vernon Anderson, Bubba Ferguson, Myles Kiper, Jeb Guice, Mike Caldwell and Mike Watson.Honorary pallbearers will be Mike Giska, Gerald Gilmore, C.L. McDonald, Shelby Parker and the “Round Table Coffee Drinkers.” Memorials may be made to Wisner United Methodist Church; Cal Farley’s Boys’ Ranch (one of Brown’s favorite charities), P.O. Box 1890, Amarillo, Texas, 79105; or the charity of the donor’s choosing. Online condolences may be made at www.mulhearnfuneralhome.com