Wayne County Wanderings: Seeking to honor the memory of a fallen hero

June 27, 1970 had been unfolding just like any other summer Saturday for the Brown Family of White Mills.

Russell M. Brown and his wife, Genie, were enjoying a quiet afternoon at their Elizabeth Street home when the call came in.

Russ was Chief Deputy to Wayne County Sheriff Arnold Westgate, who’d been contacted by the Pennsylvania State Police. A Trooper was being dispatched to serve a warrant for domestic abuse in Hawley. Sheriff Westgate remembered that Deputy Brown knew the man in question and had a decent rapport with him. Would Russ accompany the Trooper? Maybe his presence would help keep the tension level down.

Unfortunately the encounter didn’t go as planned. Not by a longshot.

The man locked himself in a bathroom and refused to come out. The two lawmen forced their way through the door and a fracas ensued. While they finally managed to get the cuffs on and place him in the cruiser, this victory would come at a very steep price.

Russ returned home afterward, but it was obvious to the family that something was wrong. To all outward appearances, he seemed hale and hearty. That night, though, Russ was in obvious pain.

“Dad said that his head hurt terribly,” said son Gary Brown, who still lives in White Mills at the age of 78. “It got worse as time went by. So, we had to call the doctor.”

It didn’t take long for the family physician to decide that Russ needed serious attention. Bob Hessling was summoned and arrived on the scene quickly. He took Russ via ambulance to Wayne Memorial Hospital where he was admitted to the intensive care unit as doctors ran a battery of tests.

On Sunday morning, the local newspaper listed Russ’ condition as guarded. Sadly, he passed away later in the day. Following an autopsy, County Coroner Robert Jennings ruled that a brain aneurysm was the official cause of death.

Wayne County’s Chief Deputy was gone at the age of 62. It was an event whose reverberations would be felt more than a half-century later.

White Mills Legend

Understandably, Russ’ tragic death hit the Brown Family hard.

Gary was 26 at the time, a college graduate who’d embarked on a teaching career in Delaware. After the funeral, he decided to move back home to watch after his grieving Mom. Thus began a storied teaching and coaching career at his alma mater Wallenpaupack Area.

“Dad was very personable,” Gary said. “He was well-liked by everybody and he worked hard to provide for his family. It was tough on my Mom when he was gone.”

Russ had been proprietor of Brown’s Variety Store on Main Street for many years. The business, located on Main Street near what’s now Watson Brothers, was first opened by his Gary's grandfather, Minor Brown, in the 1930s.

Minor’s brother ran the store after his death before it passed to Russ in the late ‘50s. According to Gary, the store had a wide-ranging inventory including “pretty much everything from soup to nuts.”

“My Dad was very active in the community,” Gary said. “He was very involved in the White Mills Improvement Society and the Fire Company.”

Russ was also a talented multi-sport standout who starred in baseball and basketball at White Mills High School.

Gary has vivid memories of watching his Dad play baseball at the old White Mills field. Russ was a star pitcher who played outfield when he wasn’t on the mound.

Gary and his brother Robert both used to attend games as kids ... and they had special jobs.

“The guys on the team used to pay us 10 cents each to chase foul balls,” he said. “Sometimes my Dad would have us sell bottles of soda for a dime each too.

“We’d walk around with these wooden crates filled with bottles. My brother and I made out pretty well because there were always several hundred fans at those Sunday afternoon games.”

Russ was a standout player through the 1920s and ‘30s in the Silk Mill League, Wayne Industrial League, Wayne County League and Tri-County League. After that, he remained involved as a coach, manager and eventually a stalwart sponsor of White Mills teams.

In recognition of his storied career on the diamond, in the dugout and front office, Brown was inducted into the Wayne Area Sports Hall of Fame on September 29, 1995.

Russ’ passion for baseball and love of his sons continued long after his playing days were over.

“My brother and I got to go to New York City in 1957,” Gary said with a big smile. “We got to see Jackie Robinson play at Ebbets Field. I was in sixth or seventh grade and that’s a really good memory.”

In his later years, Russ continued a lifelong passion for the outdoors. A charter member of the Riverdale Rod & Gun Club, he hunted big bucks, fished for trophy trout and trapped beaver.

Somehow, he still found the time to be the Chief Deputy … and a good one.

“Dad was pretty proud of being a deputy,” Gary said. “He was really respected and well-liked in the community.

A Brotherhood

Chris Rosler is the current sheriff of Wayne County and a man who would’ve loved to have Russ Brown as a deputy.

A 1987 graduate of Honesdale High School, he has also earned diplomas from the Penn State Deputy Sheriff’s Training Academy and the Lackawanna College Police Academy.

Rosler joined the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office in 2006. He’s served as a police officer in Lehigh Township, Hawley Borough, and Honesdale as well.

In 2010, Rosler accepted an appointment from then-Sheriff Mark Steelman to serve as Chief Deputy. He acted in that capacity until Steelman retired a decade later.

Rosler was named Sheriff in May of 2021, defeating former New Jersey police officer Joe King in a special election.

It was Sheriff Rosler who brought my attention to Russ Brown’s tragic story last week via social media. It didn’t take long during our subsequent conversation for me to understand just how strongly he feels about Deputy Brown receiving the recognition he deserves.

“We are like a brotherhood,” Sheriff Rosler said of law enforcement. “Even the simplest call can turn out to be a bad incident. You never know what’s going to happen when you respond to an incident. Even back back in those days, it was dangerous.”

Sheriff Rosler was heartened to see how quickly Wayne County residents responded to his request for information. Their replies, coupled with a little bit of research, yielded a wealth of information.

With all of that in hand, the Sheriff reached out to officials at both the Officer Down Memorial Page and the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial in our nation’s capital. While Russ Brown already has an online entry with the former, the process is just starting to garner recognition with the latter.

The hope is that Deputy Brown’s name will one day be inscribed on one of the two 300-foot limestone walls at the Washington DC site. Dedicated on October 15, 1991, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial currently lists the names of more than 22,000 men and women who’ve fallen in the line of duty.

“It will be an honor to add him to the wall in Washington as a remembrance for the county and his family,” Sheriff Rosler said. “I wish I would have known the story earlier so we could’ve done something earlier.”

Gratitude & Sadness

For his part, Gary Brown has mixed emotions about the recent revival of interest in the tragedy that claimed his Dad’s life.

Even after all these years, he still gets choked up thinking about it. But, he’s grateful to everyone advocating on Russ’ behalf.

“I’m definitely proud of him,” Gary said a faraway look in his eyes. “He was a good husband and a good father. It would be a nice honor. I think he would’ve been proud too.”

This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Honoring the memory of Deputy Russell Brown of Wayne County