Brooksville, ME – Judson Brooks Brown, 78, died peacefully on August, 20, 2026 at home in Brooksville, ME with his wife Sandy at his side. He was the son of the late William Hayes Brown, instructor in English and founder of the rowing program at Phillips Academy, Andover, and Lee Brooks Brown, an artist.
Judson attended Phillips Academy, graduating in 1965 and went on to the University of Pennsylvania where he met his wife, Sandra Russell Brown of Port Crane, New York. They married directly after College on August 16, 1969. They were happily married for 57 years.
Judson chose to work on his own obituary during his final days and his family wanted to honor his lifetime as a writer by publishing portions of his version (below).
“Judson followed a piebald career that was no career at all, working various jobs in and out of newspapers and various and numerous official and unofficial social work positions. He got the idea that he could write at Phillips Academy and wrote his way through life. He hardly finished anything. He leaves behind (in various boxes), hundreds of newspaper articles, hundreds of poems, essays in the loosest sense, and 30 years of journals in a trunk. He also created about 50,000 photos on his iPhone. Photography took him where words could not go.
Among stops on the way were several jobs as a journalist including the Boston Globe; Philadelphia Evening Bulletin; Bennington Banner and Daily Hampshire Gazette. He also had a separate career as a social worker in Philadelphia (The Young Great Society of Mantua; Parkway Alternative School); and in Massachusetts (The Norfolk Fellowship Foundation; Massachusetts Department of Social Services; Highland Valley Elder Services and Easthampton Council on Aging).
Judson and Sandy were happiest on the road, in the woods, in a tent, or in an art gallery. They shared many wonderful adventures. They made it to the Everglades at the tip of Florida. It was like seeing the Serengeti plain, earth at creation. They slept in the open there and hardly got a bite.
Judson and Sandy spent his last days on MacMahan Island, Maine, where Judson had gone every summer from the age of one. Judson sat meditating taking in the wide sweep of Sheepscot Bay. Family were all around and cared for his collapsing body tenderly. It was a beautiful goodbye to a beautiful, only barely responsible life.
Judson read the Bible every day and loved Bible study at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Northampton, MA. He was interested in all religions and wisdom literature and the mystical. He loved the church, a vehicle, especially late in life and mainly at St. John’s for social projects, including the Circle of Care for refugees and Grace House, a recovery program for moms. He loved to sing from early times in the choir at Grace Church Andover. He then sang in the St. John’s choir and, for many years, with the Da Camera Singers in Amherst., MA
He died with a faith he was still trying to find the words for. Faith for him was alive and ever growing and stretching and could never be caught, never captured. Alleluia! He is risen. He is risen indeed. He has gone ahead of us and will meet us in Galilee.”
Judson is survived by his wife Sandra Russell Brown; children: Thalia Brown Lankin (Joshua Lankin) and Ellery Russell Brown (Harden Wisebram); grandchildren: Ethan Lankin, Alden Brown, Julia Lankin, Cove Brown and Matilda Brown; and brothers; Rufus Brown and Paul Brown.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Center For New Americans, in Northampton, MA or the Brooksville Public Library, in Brooksville, ME.
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