James Willard (Jim) Brown

Brown, James (Jim) Willard, 89, was born on February 18, 1922, to Ola and Hobson Brown in Baltimore Maryland, and passed away at home in Wichita, Kansas on Friday, December 30, 2011, under the loving care of his family and Good Shepard hospice. Jim grew up in Baltimore with two brothers, Roland and Stanford who preceded him in death. He enlisted in the Army and Army Air Force and while attending flight school in Carbondale, Illinois he met the love of his life and best friend, Pansy Wasem, and they were married in Dodge City, Kansas in 1945. He left the Army Air Force as a flight officer in 1946 and worked at Martin Marietta in Baltimore. While in Baltimore, they were blessed with their daughter, Jamie, who passed away in 2008. They moved to St. Louis in 1948 to attend aeronautical engineering school and moved to Wichita in 1950 where he went to work for Boeing. In 1967, Jim and Pansy moved to Everett, Washington, where he worked on the 747 program, returning to Wichita in 1970 and retiring in 1985. He is survived by his loving wife Pansy, their son, Mark, who with his wife Marcy, live in the Seattle area, his grandson, Nick, who lives with his wife Jen in Portland, Oregon, his granddaughter, Katy, who also lives in Portland, and numerous nieces and nephews. Jim was a man of great faith and spent a lifetime of loving, helping and giving. A Celebration of Life will occur on Tuesday, January 3, 2012, at 1pm at First United Methodist Church in Wichita. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Television Ministry of First UMC, 330 N. Broadway, Wichita, 67202. Downing Lahey Mortuary East.