SAPULPA - Funeral for former Lawton resident Royce Brown, 75, Sapulpa , will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Sapulpa First Baptist Church.  Mr. Brown died Friday, June 20, 2003.

Burial will be at 2 p.m. at Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Guthrie, under direction of Smith Funeral Home, Sapulpa.

He was born May 30, 1928, in Grandfield, to Frank and Mary Jane Brown. He graduated from Lawton High School and Oklahoma Baptist University. He married Marilyn Jean Kessler in 1952. She died in April 2001. He and his family moved to Sapulpa in 1966 when he became minister of music at First Baptist Church. He served more than 50 years as a music minister in many communities including Blackwell, Ada and Pauls Valley. He sang with the Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma, and after his retirement, he sang every week in local nursing homes. He was involved in his community ministerial alliance and Lions Club, and was named Citizen of the Year by the Sertoma club of Sapulpa . June 9, 2002, was proclaimed Royce Brown Day by the Sapulpa mayor, and he was recognized by the Historical Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma as music minister emeritus of Sapulpa First Baptist Church. He was also presented the Lifetime Music Ministry Award by Dr. Bill Green, Associate Executive Director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

Survivors include a daughter, Michelle Henderson, Broken Arrow; a son and daughter-in-law, Rodney and Lori Brown, Broken Arrow; four grandsons: Adam Henderson and his wife, Rachel, Aaron Henderson, Ryan Brown and Zachary Brown; a great-grandson, Dylan Henderson; and four nieces and nephews: Mary Ann Robinson and Denny Baker, both of Lawton; and Bill Brown and Peggy Jane Moot.
 

Complied and transcribed by Marti Graham, 2011.