Celebration of Life for Pastor Richard S. Brown Jr. will begin at noon Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at Payne Avenue Missionary Baptist Church, 2714 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Knoxville, Tennessee. To be followed by interment at 3 p.m. at Sherwood Memorial Gardens, 3176 Airport Highway, Alcoa, Tennessee. There will be open viewing from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23, at Payne Avenue Church and the family will receive friends from 11 a.m. to noon on Wednesday.
The Rev. Brown has served faithfully as pastor of his beloved Payne Ave. Missionary Baptist Church family for the past 27 years. He passed away on January 13, 2024, at age 62, leaving his wife, Kirktenia, three children and two grandchildren. The full obituary is here.
He was a third-generation preacher, proudly following his grandfather, Sam Brown, and his father, R.S. Brown Sr. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and attended elementary school there. The family moved to Alcoa, Tennessee, when his father was called to pastor the Bethel Baptist Church in Alcoa.
At Alcoa High School, Richard was the center and co-captain of the basketball team which took regional and state honors. He was a saxophonist and a drum major in the marching band and graduated in 1980 with honors for academic excellence.
He started college in Nashville, but returned to Alcoa and was ordained as a minister in 1983. He graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1986, having worked his way through college doing janitorial work at William Blount High School in Maryville. He was employed by the Tennessee Valley Authority as a control analyst from 1987 to 1996.
He served the church and community in leadership positions on various boards and committees. His first pastorate was with St. John Baptist Church in Knoxville (1988-96).