J. W. Brown

J.W. Brown, 83, known affectionately as "Boss" by his grandchildren, passed away Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011, in Fort Worth.Funeral: 10 a.m. Saturday at Lakeshore Drive Baptist Church, 200 S. Lakeshore Drive, Hudson Oaks. Interment: Memory Gardens of the Valley Memorial Park, 5600 Mineral Wells Highway, Weatherford. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at White's Funeral Home, 130 Houston Ave., Weatherford. To honor J.W., please feel free to attend in your western wear.J.W. Brown was born March 25, 1927, in Hollis, Okla., the youngest of six children born to the late G.W. and Juanita Parker Brown. He attended school at Oklahoma Baptist University and Oklahoma A&M (OSU), where he received a master's degree. J.W. made a 20-plus-year career teaching school first in Alfalfa, Okla., and then the Weatherford ISD and eventually retired from the Arlington ISD. J.W. had an avid interest in the Old West and began his first stagecoach project in the early 1970s, when he began J. Brown Stagecoach Works. He never really retired and, in fact, had a stagecoach in the works at the time of his passing. His coaches were used in several Hollywood productions and are in a number of museums across the country and Europe. J.W. also has coaches on display at the Doss Heritage & Culture Center, the Fort Worth Zoo and in the Wells Fargo Museum. He was employed by Wells Fargo in the production of stagecoaches.J.W. was a dreamer and lived out his dreams. In addition to teaching and building coaches, he loved to tell stories and was known to be a great story teller. J.W. was preceded in death by his wife, Doris Brown, in 1996; his parents; and five brothers and sisters who called him J. Boy.Survivors: Daughters, JaVana "Bonnie" Cannon of Weatherford, Christi Shepherd and husband, Michael, of Ovilla, Tina Sutton and husband, Dwight, of Weatherford and Nan Wilson and husband, Jimmy, of Paradise; grandchildren, Stacy Cannon, Laura Staples, Kevin Sutton, Mica Hicks, Rusty Wilson, Clint Wilson, Terri Bales, Sunni Cannon, Jacob Sutton, Christopher Shepherd, Rebekah Shepherd and Allison Shepherd; great-grandchildren, J. Dallon Hicks, Katelyn Hicks, Savannah Wilson, Grady Hicks, Reese Wilson and Bradlee Shepherd; special friend, Sybil Dean; and a host of loving family and friends.