Norvan R. Brown

Birth Date: 07/30/1929
Deceased Date: 07/30/2025

Norvan R. Brown, age 96, passed away peacefully at his home in Selma, NC on July 30, 2025. Born in Laverne, Oklahoma on July 30, 1929, Norvan grew up during the dust bowl years in the Oklahoma panhandle, where he said that he was eight years old before he ever saw it rain. Growing up on the rugged Western Oklahoma plains he played baseball, went quail hunting and worked at his father’s service station as he grew older. When he was little, one of his older sister’s boyfriends gave him the nickname “Tuffy”, which stuck with him throughout his time growing up in Oklahoma, and he is still known by friends and family in Oklahoma as Tuffy. Norvan was a 1948 graduate of Gate High School in Gate, Oklahoma. He often joked that he graduated in the top 10 of his class, out of 9 classmates.

In 1951 he enlisted in the US Air Force and served overseas during the Korean War. He served with the 19th Bomb Group, 28th Bomb Squadron (B-29 Bombers) at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. After the war he was transferred to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. While traveling back to Oklahoma to visit family whenever he could, he met his future wife Fonda on a blind date set up by a friend. They soon fell in love and were married the next year in Woodward, OK. They lived in San Antonio, Texas where he finished out his Air Force assignment.

After a season of harvesting wheat from Texas to Montana with his father-in-law, Norvan began working for Phillips Petroleum Company in various capacities moving his family to Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, Kansas and finally North Carolina. He and Fonda opened and operated Brown’s Clothing Store in Gardner, Kansas before he was transferred to North Carolina in 1970. He was the Terminal Superintendent at the Phillips 66 oil terminal in Selma before retiring in 1991. Norvan was a member and trustee at Edgerton Memorial United Methodist Church in Selma and a 27-year member of American Legion Post 141 in Selma.

After retiring, Norvan and Fonda spent many years traveling by car around the country visiting friends, relatives and sightseeing. They also enjoyed spending time on their boat “Lazy Days” at their lakeside retreat at Lake Gaston, fishing for Striped Bass, Catfish and Crappie. Norvan and Fonda traveled back to Oklahoma at least once a year to visit family and friends. They also enjoyed spending time with their grandchildren attending birthday parties, ballgames, dance recitals and graduations. He was an avid UNC sports fan and spent countless hours cheering on his Tarheels.

Mr. Brown is preceded in death by his parents, Roney and Lena Spalding Brown; his beloved wife of 57 years, Fonda Winters Brown; brother Sterling “Dutch” Brown; and sisters, Leona Brown Barnett, Erma Jean Brown Long and Dorothy Brown Spearman.

Surviving are his sons, Steve Brown (Donna) of Selma, NC; and Gregg Brown (Carmen Marshall) of Clayton, NC; Granddaughters, Savannah Brickell (James) of Wilson’s Mills, NC; Katie Brown and Sara Brown of Clayton, NC. Two special nieces, Marilyn Boone & Jolena Graves, his dear friend Twila Bentley and best buddy Al Gaskill.

The family would like to give special thanks to Fresenius Kidney Care at Stallings Station in Clayton and Hospice of Wilson for their thoughtful care and kindness.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, August 2, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. in the chapel of Parrish Funeral Home in Selma. The family will receive friends from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. just prior to the service. Interment will follow in Selma Memorial Gardens.