The Last of the Browns...

Dear old Aunty Kath passed away a few days ago. She was 91. I heard from Ma, who heard from cousin Libby.

She was the last of the Browns in my dad's generation. Apparently when I was a toddler I used to call her Kakky, because I struggled to say Kath. My sister used that name for her from then onwards. I remember her as kind, funny and warm. She was very close with my dad.

In fact her first husband, who we still refer to as Uncle John, was my dad's best friend - they did everything together. Mum actually has a photo on her fridge of a young Dad and Uncle John hunting in British North Borneo of all places, which is where my lovely wife was born. Haha, yeah, Dad always used to tell stories about a place called Jesselton, which was the colonial capital there in those days. I knew my wife was born in the state capital of Sabah, a city called Kota Kinabalu. What I did not realise until quite recently was that these two places were one and the same - the name changed when Malaysia became independent. It's funny how life throws the occasional coincidence into the mix sometimes.

Anyway, Uncle John and Dad were in a terrible car accident when I was a toddler. Dad suffered a broken hip, which plagued him for the rest of his days (he did have it replaced eventually). Unfortunately, Uncle John didn't make it. Uncle John was a funny guy. 

That is me under a X'mas tree as a teeny tiny. I don't know if it was that particular year or another one, but the story still goes around that one year, at John and Kath's house, where we were all going to celebrate, there were a lot of presents under the tree. Uncle John told me they were all for me, which as you may imagine, got my toddler hopes up well and truly! Apparently I was terribly disappointed when most of my presents were given to other people on the day!

Anyway. So Aunty Kath remarried eventually, to a fellow named Jack. He was ok, my memory tells me, but the family never warmed to him the way they did with John. He and Aunty Kath grew old together, and he passed some years ago. She had been living close to Libby since then. I think the last time I saw her was when she came to visit Dad in his last years, not sure of exact date. Judging by the photo, Uncle Bob was there at the time too.

As I was looking for this photo, I found another one of my parents with Aunty Kath, back either at or before the time I was born.

They all look young, and pretty cool, and pretty happy with life. That was their hey-day. Now, none of that generation remain. It is up to the next one, me being part of it, to make the Brown name live on. Of course it is such a common surname, it won't ever die out, but for our particular family, we have six Brown males and two females, plus those who are descendants of Kath, Bob, Ted and others. I think we'll be good for a while yet!

So farewell Aunty Kath. Thanks for always being a loving and lovely person, I will always have good memories of you. May you rest in peace.