Charles Alexander Kirkland Brown, 17 years old, boards a train in Vaudreuil in 1953, going into Montreal. He notices a young woman boarding at the same station. "Who's that?" He elbows his friend in the ribs, eyes not leaving the girl. "That? That's J'Nan Bishop!" Kirk, always calm in a crisis, looks around the train car. He has to get her attention, make an impression. What's going to impress a girl like this? His heart beats too fast, palms sweaty. Time to gamble. He grabs a paper cup and shoves it down the back of her dress. "Hey!" J'Nan, fierce and confident, turns to give him a piece of her mind. She sees a young man, wiry and strong, with dark curly hair, sparkling brown eyes, and a mischievous smile. "Well, hello!" she says. They get off at the same station. They marry in 1955. Kirk is 20, J'Nan 19, going on 20. My father, Bryson, is born the next year, my aunt Jennifer two years later in 1958. Kirk does a PhD in chemical engineering at McGill. J'Nan's father doesn't think he'll make much of himself—he gives J'Nan a typewriter as a wedding gift, so she'll be able to support herself as a secretary. She uses it to type Kirk's dissertation instead. They live in Montreal, then in Ontario, New Jersey, Louisiana. Kirk specializes in thermodynamics and becomes interested in alternative energy as his career progresses. In 1976, when the family is living in Ontario again, J'Nan sees an ad in the newspaper. A new research facility on Prince Edward Island, the Institute of Man and Resources, is looking for a research director. They want an engineer, someone with practical, hands-on experience, someone who's familiar with farming practices. Kirk was a farmhand when he and J'Nan met. "Say, Kirk, this sounds like you!" Kirk gets the job. He and J'Nan move to the island with their daughter, Jenny (my father is away at university). Kirk and J'Nan buy a farm in Clyde River. J'Nan raises milk goats and grows vegetables while Kirk works on windmills, solar power, alternatives to oil and gas. The work is promising, internationally recognized. But the Institute loses funding when the OPEC oil embargo ends—no need for alternatives, they're told, now that oil and gas are so cheap. Kirk and J'Nan have three grandchildren—my brother Kalen first, then me, then my cousin, Alyre. They stay on the Island, on their farm, until 2020, when Kirk has a heart attack. J'Nan, without a license and suffering from anterograde amnesia, drives him to the hospital. When doctors determine that they're no longer safe on the farm, they move into the Prince Edward Home, sharing adjoining rooms until Kirk begins a decline in 2023. Charles Alexander Kirkland Brown dies on September 27, 2023, at the age of 88, two days after J'Nan's 88th birthday. Bryson, J'Nan and I are at his bedside. "He was my man," J'Nan says. He is survived by his wife, J'Nan Brown, (Bishop); his son, Martin Bryson Brown; daughter, Jennifer Ann Brown; daughter-in-law, Linde Bruce-Brown; brother, Robert Brown; and two grandchildren, Tessa J'Nan Brown and Alyre Woodworth. He is predeceased by his parents, Bob and Sylvia Brown; his sister, Joanne Pearson, (Brown); and by his grandson, my brother, Alexander Kalen Brown. Kirk left his body to the Dalhousie Medical Faculty. Donations in Kirk's name can be made to New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island.
Charles Alexander Kirkland BROWN — Charlottetown
