Robert and Mary (Sweeney) Brown were my great grandparents on my mothers side. They were born, raised, married, died and buried in Washington County, Indiana. Robert was a hard working yet romantic kind of man. He wrote poetry every chance he got. Very different from his hard working, no-nonsense wife Mary.
They raised a house full of children and helped in the raising of many grandchildren just by being wonderful grandparents. Their farm was a gathering place for the entire family with grandchildren enjoying summers at the farm helping out with feeding the chickens, gathering eggs, slopping the pigs, playing with the baby animals.
Not only did they run a farm, but they also ran the Sunshine Grocery. In the front of their home was a small store in which many necessities were sold. This store was also a one pump gas station. I can remember as a child, long after the store was closed, playing around the gas pump. The gas pump was where you leaned your head to count to twenty and it was “base” for those being chased. The chickens hung out just around the corner from the pump and many times we would run straight through a big bunch of chickens to get to base. Usually they would just scatter, but sometimes the old rooster wouldn’t like it and would chase a child trying to flog him. We always knew to watch out for the rooster, but in the heat of a feverish game of hide-n-seek it was easy to forget.
Richard Cooper, the second tombstone in the photograph, was a grandson of Robert and Mary. He was my uncle and he died way too early. We all miss him a great deal. Cancer is a horrible thing.
