His earliest memory is of Gummies Bush, Southland, where he started school.
“It’s a long way to think back,” he said yesterday, celebrating his 100th birthday at the Brooklands Retirement Village and Rest Home in Mosgiel.
"A lot of children went to school in bare feet."
Mr Brown came from a farming family and he was the fifth of nine children.
He left school aged about 12, worked on farms in the Woodlands area of Southland and ran a team of horses.
There was a fair bit of horsing around and practical jokes in the early years, but also the Great Depression.
Mr Brown worked in threshing mills, separating out grain.
"I slept in barns and among the mice," he said.
He was a conscientious objector during World War 2 and worked for Roslyn Woollen Mills in Dunedin, manufacturing clothes for the war effort.
Mr Brown married Rita Davies in 1945 and they remained together until she died, aged 94.
There was "nothing sweeter than Rita", he liked to say.
His first car was a 1920s Buick.
"I was keen on the Buicks.
"They were good cars at the time."
A Chevrolet Bel Air was needed later, when six children were in tow.
Mr Brown had a stint as an agent for the Evening Star in Dunedin.
He built an oil works in Kaikorai Valley Rd.
Three Brown brothers — Reg, Basil and Andrew — ran Regent Oil Refinery, collecting used oil and running it through a recycling process.
After selling up, Reg Brown bought a sheep and cattle farm at Allanton, near Dunedin.
Two sons showed an interest in farming and he upsized to Allendale Station, near Outram.
Mr Brown was known as a storyteller and a Christadelphian lay preacher.
Christadelphians aim to get as close as possible to the faith and practices of the early Christian church.
