Leroy “Jock” Brown

Leroy “Jock” Franklin Brown (or Grandpa) is Kirby’s maternal grandfather. Born in 1924, he grew up on a farm in Dryville and spoke Pennsylvania Dutch until entering school. He was a one-mile relay state champion, Navy Frogman (a precursor to the Navy SEALs), folk storyteller, and a prominent figure in the Kutztown/Topton community.

He regularly performed at the Kutztown Folk Festival—both in his Life of a Dutchman monologue and as part of a comedy duo. WEEU Radio once described the duo as the “Abbott and Costello of the Kutztown Folk Festival.”

He died of natural causes in September 2022. Kirby considers Leroy one of the most influential figures in his life.

Background

Leroy was born to George Brown and Verna Schade Brown on November 24, 1924. He later recalled that his mother was a “real farm girl,” and his dad was smaller. He said he loved to watch them hoe-down, because his father only came up to his mother’s chest.

He was raised on a farm in Dryville, speaking Pennsylvania Dutch until he began school in a one-room schoolhouse. When his father moved the family into Kutztown to be closer to work, Leroy entered the Kutztown School District.

In school he joined the track team. Despite administrators telling them, “Quite frankly, we don’t think you stand a chance,” his one-mile relay team won the state championship—pooling gas rations to get to meets during the Depression.

He prioritized sports and getting into trouble with his best friend, Dick, who he said “should’ve been my brother.” The two nearly didn’t graduate, but the school let them through, largely because they’d already been drafted.

Leroy joined the Navy and was stationed in Plymouth, England, eventually leading transportation because he was the only one in his outfit with a high-school diploma who could type. He instructed his men to bring hungry children back to the compound, feed them, and send them home with leftovers.

He briefly dated a woman from his host family, and the two nearly moved to the United States together. When she placed second in a beauty pageant and lost the prize, the plan fell through.

While in Plymouth, Leroy once drove President Harry Truman. Truman’s aide insisted he drive slower, but Leroy explained the supercharged Buick couldn’t go under five miles per hour. Truman told the aide to let him do his job.

After the fifteenth wave on Omaha Beach, Leroy returned to Plymouth, then home. There he fell in love with Jacqueline “Jackie” Winter; they married and had their first daughter, Tonia.

A friend later convinced him to join the Navy Reserves—then he promptly got called up for Korea. “I never thanked him for getting me into the Reserves,” Leroy joked. The day before his call-up, he’d been offered a promotion to an office position; his boss promised the job would be waiting when he returned.

During Korea, Leroy taught classes titled The Fundamentals of the Atomic Bomb and Trenchfoot. Bored, he tried out for the Navy Frogs. After enduring “three days where you weren’t allowed to show pain” and “the week of hell,” he made Frog Team Two.

After Korea, Leroy came home again. He and Jackie had two more daughters, Shawn and Shannon (Kirby’s mother). He worked for an auctioneer for a while and later helped run Jackie & Daughter Flower Shops. Kirby would often be his “runner” while doing flower deliveries together. At the time, there was no GPS, so Leroy would figure out the route on the map beforehand.

For several decades, he was heavily involved in the local Topton community, Minstrel shows, and Kutztown Folk Festival. At the Folk Festival, he was known for his Life of a Dutchman monologue and comedy partnership with Bill Meck.

Influence on Kirby

Leroy and Jackie often looked after Kirby and his brother Beckham. The couple lived in Topton, just a few minutes from the boys’ home in Kutztown. When the brothers started school, they went to breakfast once a week with their grandparents at Airport Diner—a tradition that continued into high school as Tuesday Night Dinners with extended family.

Leroy often drove the boys to soccer or swim practice, usually stopping for lunch afterward at the Dryville Hotel (which they often called “Jack Fox”). Kirby always ordered chicken fingers, fries, and applesauce—and dipped the chicken into the applesauce. They often went between 11 a.m. and noon, while The Price Is Right played on the bar’s TV.

Whenever his parents were too busy to drive him, Leroy would drive Kirby wherever he needed to go. If Leroy took Kirby to soccer practice, he’d usually have the life story of one of the other parents by the end of the session.

Leroy and Jackie came to nearly all of Kirby and Beckham’s local soccer games. When the boys played together for Kutztown High School, the Athletic Director let the grandparents park their car near the stadium so they could watch without having to walk over and climb up the bleachers.

The grandparents also came to all of the games Kirby coached as Kutztown Middle School Head Boys’ Soccer Coach, as well as all of his high school tennis matches. Leroy joked that he liked sports like track and tennis because, unlike team sports, “you win by yourself, and you lose by yourself.”

In the car, Leroy and Jackie rotated two CDs, one of them Down by the Tabernacle by the Gaithers; Kirby and Beckham still know nearly every lyric. The only time the two CD’s weren’t playing was briefly in Middle School, when Kirby made his grandparents a CD of his favorite songs. Leroy also played an acoustic folk CD in the car when Kirby drove him to Jackie’s cousin’s funeral in the early 2020’s.

From Kirby’s birth until Leroy’s death, they were inseparable whenever Kirby wasn’t away at college. During family holidays, they’d sometimes sneak away on a short drive together. Even during the Wasted Potential years, Leroy still showed up for him. They continued their Sunday breakfasts at New Smithville Diner, no matter how hungover Kirby was.

In 2022, when Kirby’s parents sold their house, he lived for several months with his mother and cousin Josh in Leroy’s home. The period was emotionally turbulent and strained relationships. He didn’t find peace again until after Leroy’s death that September. Earlier in the year, Leroy had given a birthday card signed from him and Jackie, writing, “Our faith in you is never-ending.”

At the funeral, Kirby wore a sleek, black button-down he’d bought from a homeless man for $5 while waiting for a late-night trolley. The man also gave him other clothes, a mystery pill (which Kirby didn’t take), and a DVD titled Nerdy Girls.

Kirby recalled feeling calmer than he expected. The drinks and the laughter of family helped, but more than that, he knew Leroy had lived a long, full life. He missed him deeply, yet believed his grandfather would have wanted the family to celebrate, not mourn—to carry his life forward, just as he had always carried theirs.

Table of Contents

Background

Influence on Kirby

External Resources