William G. Brown

Dr. William G. Brown, 83, passed away on January 17, 2018, at Baylor Scott&White Hillcrest Medical Center in Waco, Texas. A Celebration of Life service will be 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, January 23, at the Worship Center of the First Baptist Church of Woodway in Waco. Dr. Brown was born to Leonard Franklin and Anna Portia Brown on July 14, 1934, in Drumright, Oklahoma. He graduated from Chase Rural High School, Chase, Kansas, in 1952. Dr. Brown graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Baylor University in 1956. He married Claretta Crawford on September 2, 1956 in Wichita, Kansas. He graduated with a Master of Science degree in Geology from the University of Kansas in 1958 and was hired as a geologist by the Chevron Oil Company. Bill worked as an exploration geologist for Chevron for 23 years. In 1981, he accepted a teaching offer from Baylor to teach structural geology. He remained with Baylor until his retirement in 1997 and was named Professor Emeritus. At Chevron, he served as Coordinator of the Standard Oil Company of California Structural Geology Seminar Program from 1975 to 1980. He advanced to the position of Consultant Geologist, serving as Mid-Continent Division Geologist at the time he resigned to teach at Baylor. Dr. Brown was a Professor of Geology at Baylor University for 16 years. He received his PhD in Geology from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in 1987 at age 53. During his tenure at Baylor, Dr. Brown taught a variety of geology classes for: undergraduate non-geology majors; undergraduate geology majors; and graduate geology majors. He particularly enjoyed teaching a six week field course in the Structural Geology for graduate majors, which covered the western half of the United States. He was a faculty advisor for 14 Bachelor of Science theses; 18 Master of Science theses, and two PhD dissertations. Dr. Brown was active in the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). He taught in a number of AAPG sponsored Structural Geology seminars; he authored, or co-authored 45 publications (articles, field trip guidebooks, seminar note-sets, short-course notes, and abstracts). He made oral presentations to the AAPG (both local and national), and to the Geological Society of America and attended three international Penrose Conferences. He gave presentations about geology at several primary and secondary schools in Wyoming and Colorado. Dr. Brown received two awards for his presentations and in 1981, he was named “Scientist of the Year” by the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists in Denver, CO. In 1990, Dr. Brown was selected as a Guest Lecturer for the AAPG Distinguished Lecturer Series. Dr. Brown was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Leonard Franklin, Jr., and his wife, Linda; and a daughter, Cheryl Ann Gates. Survivors include: his wife, Claretta of Waco; daughter, Pam of Waco; and son, Mike of Aubrey, Texas, and his former wife, Holly O’Quinn, of Lewisville, Texas; former son-in-law, Allan Gates and his wife, Pat, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; two grandsons, Jason Gates and his wife, Brittani, and Jonathan Gates and his wife, Chrissy, all of Broken Arrow; two granddaughters, Makenna and Braden Brown of Lewisville; one step-grandson, Matt Philpot and his wife, Sarah, of Broken Arrow; one step-granddaughter, Alisha Mavis and her husband, Brad Mavis, of Cary, North Carolina; two great granddaughters, Hadley and Harper Gates of Broken Arrow; two step great grandsons, Christian and Isaac Philpot of Broken Arrow; and a niece, Ann Leslie Brown of Seattle, Washington. Dr. Brown was ordained as a Deacon in the College Heights Baptist Church, Casper, Wyoming, in 1965; he also served as a Deacon and Sunday School teacher in the Applewood Baptist Church, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Woodway at the time of his death. Memorials should be sent to the Baylor University Department of Geosciences, Waco, TX 76798. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our “Tribute Wall” at www.WHBfamily.com.