A.M. "Buster" Brown

A. M. "Buster" Brown, surrounded by family and friends, passed away peacefully at 4:30 p.m., Friday, February 3, 2012. He was born in Johnson City, TN, December 25, 1928.

Buster was a 1948 graduate of Dobyns-Bennett High School, where he played right-guard on the undefeated, untied and unscored-upon State Championship Football Team. He was also a champion Golden Gloves boxer.

Buster received a Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan State University, Master of Arts from Sam Houston State University, Texas, and pursued post graduate studies in Public Safety at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Buster was a veteran, serving in the United States Air Force as a Senior Medical and Surgical Technician.

Buster started his law enforcement career in 1950 and worked in police departments in Texas, Ohio, and Tennessee. He was a Criminal Investigator for the United States Treasury Department working enforcement in the Alcohol and Firearms Division. He served as the Chief Deputy & Criminal Investigator for the Sullivan County Sheriff's Department where he was shot in the line of duty.

Buster served as the Law Enforcement Division Chairman, the Director of the Law Enforcement Academy and the Director of the Crime Lab at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee, where he was instrumental in establishing the regional law enforcement training academy designated as a "Center of Excellence" for Criminal Justice Education by the Tennessee State Board of Regents of Colleges and Universities. He was a member of the Walters State Hall of Fame.

Buster was one of the founding members of the Kingsport 911 Board. He researched and established the Fallen Officers Memorial at Walters State. In 2001, he designed and supervised the construction of the Kingsport Animal Shelter. In 2006, Buster traveled to Mozambique, Africa where he helped build a medical clinic.

Buster was preceded in death by his parents, Frances Wise Brown and Cecil Brown; brother, Charlie Brown; and sister, Elsie Brown Grubb.

Buster is survived by his loving wife, Vivian Eversole Brown; four sons, David Brown, Jeff Brown, Dr. Steve Brown and wife Michelle, Hal Brown and daughter, Jamey Brown, all of Kingsport; his grandchildren, Chris Brown, Laura Brown, Adam Williams and wife Hannah, Aeron Brown, and Patrick Brown; three great-grandchildren, Caleb, Kadence and Corbin; sisters, Mary Jane Starnes of Greensboro, NC and Dottie Ford and husband Robert of Plantation, FL; brother, Bob Brown and wife Shirley of Spring Hill, TN; brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, Mark and Cissy Eversole of Gray, TN and Joe and Jan Eversole of Birmingham, AL; fifteen nieces and nephews.

The family will receive friends from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday at Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Homes, Kingsport. Services will follow at Hamlett-Dobson with Bud Hulsey officiating.

Interment will be in Oak Hill Memorial Park. The Kingsport Police Department Honor Guard will be assisting the family.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made in Buster's memory to Walters State Community College Foundation Criminal Justice Program, P. O. Box 1508, Morristown, TN 37816.