Major Roland M. Brown, Sr. (1923-2004)
(November 2, 1923 – January 4, 2004)
Born on November 2, 1923, Roland Brown was one of three boys born to Mr. Dewey Brown, Sr and Mrs. Matilda Steele Brown in Morristown, NJ. He graduated from Morristown High School and is honored in the Morristown High School Wall of Fame. The Brown family lived in both Morristown and Newton, NJ, which was about 37 miles distance between the two locations.
At a young age, Brown’s father, Mr. Dewey Brown, Sr, introduced the game of golf to him. Mr. Dewey Brown, Sr was the first known African American PGA member and the assistant golf pro at Shawnee on the Delaware, the famous Poconos resort where Lafayette College played its home matches before the war. The younger Brown became an avid amateur golfer winning many competitive tournaments. He made friends with such internationally-known golfers as Charlie Sifford, Teddy Rhodes, and Lee Elder. Among the long list of golf courses he played and won tournaments, was the picturesque Cedar River Golf Course in Indian Lake, NY, owned by his father.
Brown was college educated, but when WWII happened, his educational studies were delayed. In 1945, he was among the class of cadets in the Cadet Aviation Program at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Tuskegee, Alabama. Through his military service, Brown earned the rank of Major and served as a B-25 Bombardier-Navigator assigned to the 477th Bombardment Group. Because the war ended in Europe during his tenure, he never saw combat. On July 25, 1945, he married Mary Lily Davis, who was born in Hillsborough, NC on August 16, 1925. They had two children, Roland Brown, Jr., and Gloria Jeanne Brown.
Before earning a degree in Electrical Engineering at Lafayette College, Brown attended Drew University in Madison, NJ during the fall of 1946 and spring 1947. He received a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Newark College of Engineering.
Major Brown continued his educational studies after the war at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. He was a member of the Board of Trustees at Lafayette College from 1975 to 1990. He was honored in 2001 at the inaugural Student-Alumni Banquet Award for Outstanding Service to the Community, given to someone “who has significantly helped improve the quality of life for students of color.”
He attended college at Lafayette during the same time as another Tuskegee Airman, Flight Officer, David Showell, who later served with the 617th Bombardment Squadron. Brown and Showell were both assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group. They were also a part of the 447th Medium Bombardment Group, which flew B-25 bombers in preparation for combat against the Japanese forces, but never had the chance because of racism, according to Major Brown. At one point in the war, he was stationed at Fort Knox, KY. He attained the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and eventually retired from the Air Force Reserves at age 60 with the rank of Major.
Major Brown worked as a professional engineer with the United States Army Electronic Command at Fort Monmouth, NJ for thirty years. He advanced through upper levels of the organization during the major part of his professional career. When he retired in 1981, he relocated to Palm Coast, Florida. In 2000, he retired from the Air Force Reserves and moved back to New Jersey.
Major Brown passed away at age 81 on January 4, 2004 at Watchung Ridge Assisted Living facility in Watchung, NJ. His wife, Mary Davis Brown, passed away in 1999. Major Brown is interred at Cedar River Cemetery, Indian Lake, New York in Hamilton County, overlooking the golf course that his father once owned.
On June 25, 2011, Dr. Roland M. Brown, Jr. DMD, donated his father’s Congressional Gold Medal replica to the Adirondack Experience, the museum on Blue Mountain Lake in Blue Mountain, NY. Major Brown was awarded the medal posthumously in honor of his service during WWII. The family’s ties to the Adirondack Park did not just start with a medal dedication, but it actually began with a legendary African American golfer in the 1900s.
