Opelika native and longtime business owner James Gordon Brown died Monday. He was 87.
Brown and his wife of 65 years, Mary Elizabeth Palmer Brown, owned James Brown’s Supermarket and James Brown’s Family Restaurant in downtown Opelika for more than 40 years.
The Browns had two sons, James Roger Brown, an internationally known contemporary artist and founding member of the Chicago Imagist movement before his death in 1997, and Gregory Brown, a multimedia artist and college art instructor who lives in Montgomery.
Gregory Brown remembers his father as a sweet, loving man, who would give his last dime to help someone in a tight spot.
“I never saw him really get angry,” Gregory Brown said, adding, “God knows I gave him plenty of opportunities to get angry when I was growing up.”
James Brown was also a skilled carpenter, a bit of a practical joker, and he knew his way around any fishing hole.
For decades, James Brown’s Family Restaurant was a favorite spot for locals to get old-fashioned, Southern cooking — especially fried chicken, roast beef and biscuits.
Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller was a personal friend of Brown and a frequent customer at Brown’s buffet-style restaurant on the corner of 10th Street and Avenue B.
“A lot of college kids, if they couldn’t afford but one meal, they would come to James Brown’s Family Restaurant — and they would load up,” Fuller said.
Temple Anderson, owner of Grady’s Tire & Auto in Opelika, was also a longtime friend of Brown. The two men attended the same church.
“He is one of the most profound people from the standpoint that he gave his life away for the city of Opelika,” Anderson said. “He’s just one of a kind. He’s going to be sorely missed by so many people in this town.”
In his lifetime, Gregory Brown said no one has ever said or heard a bad thing mentioned about his father.
“You can’t say that about many people,” Gregory Brown said.
bharvey@oanow.com | 737-2546
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