A. Kaye Browning was born in Rexburg Idaho 9 November 1933 to Elmer F and Iva Grace Mikesell Browning. He passed away on Father’s Day, 19 June 2022. His daughter Lynette, her husband, Lonny, and grandson Christopher were with him.
Kaye was born during the Great Depression, a third great grand-son of gunmaker Jonathan Browning and the son of an apiarist, a profession which gave his father an agricultural exemption from military service during WWII. Kaye learned the value of hard work, an ethic he passed on to his 4 children. “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well”.
Kaye met and married Jennavee “Joey” Wadsworth in high school. They were married 7 April 1951. A daughter, Mara Lynn, was born to the couple. Kaye was very interested in and found work as an auto body mechanic in the Salt Lake City area and moved there. The marriage ended in its second year. Kaye stayed in Salt Lake City where he met his cousin’s date, Joyce May Butterfield, on a double date. They were married in Salt Lake City on April 16, 1954 and sealed in May 1955 in the Idaho Falls Temple. Kaye and Joyce celebrated their 65th anniversary before Joyce passed away in October 2019. They had 3 children together. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He loves his Savior and spent the last few years studying the gospel more seriously, strengthening his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
From his childhood Kaye dreamed of being a pilot, but his eye sight held him back. Another interest took Kaye into auto body repair for 10 years. He was offered an opportunity to obtain his insurance license with State Farm Insurance. He owned a very successful agency in the Sunset/Roy area for 40 years.
He was drafted for the Korean Conflict in 1955 but became a father and was reclassified to a temporary 3AF before he had to report for duty. The temporary classification eventually became a permanent deferment.
As a child, Kaye built airplanes from the kits available in those times. Later he drafted and built model airplanes without kits. In the early 1960’s, he and a childhood friend were the first in the United States to successfully fly ducted fan type model airplanes. He received letters from interested plane enthusiasts in other countries after they two young men appeared briefly on a KSL TV show that let them explain what they had accomplished and show it off. Although he never became a pilot, his interest in flying never dwindled. He obtained his private pilot license in 1972 and eventually shared ownership of a 172 Cessna then a 182 Cessna logging over 300 flight hours until he sold his share of the airplane in 1982. His last flight was in 1992.
He was given a “brownie” camera as a 10-year-old by a favorite uncle. He was a self-taught prize-winning photographer, a hobby he maintained throughout his life.
When not flying, he could be found in his garage working on a vehicle of some kind. He loved cars and spent countless hours repairing and painting cars for his children and neighbors, building a “motorhome” out of a van before motorhomes were available, rebuilding wrecked motorcycles, building and repairing home accessories. He modeled what he believed about his father “If he could see it, he could do it.” Kaye could see a great deal! As a curious little boy, he had taken things apart as a challenge to put them back together. As a man of 88.5 he removed and replaced the shower dam in his assisted living bathroom, just because he could. Two weeks before his passing he was still building motorized airplanes and had started learning German so he could practice with Lonny.
Kaye was active in politics because of his great love for his country and understood that he had a responsibility as a citizen. He was asked to run for Utah State Legislature House District 13 and was elected to two consecutive two-year terms, (1982-1986) a duty he took seriously and was supported wholeheartedly in by Joyce. He was requested as the Chair for the House ethics committee, a position he believed to be a compliment and statement of how he was perceived among his peers.
He mastered early computer programming and was recognized by State Farm as paving the way for State Farm agents to integrate computer technology into their agencies.
In March of 2001, he retired from State Farm and sold his agency. The expected “golden years” were cut short by onset of CIDP in April of 2002, which nearly took his life. He struggled through years of recovery, never regaining complete nerve sensory in his legs, feet and hands. For 17 years he received a bi weekly immunoglobulin infusion. The painful burning and itching sensation in his legs and hands never abated. He pushed past it and continued to pursue his hobbies at his best level. At the age of 80, despite the CIDP, he sanded and painted one last truck for Lonny and Lynette. He was immensely pleased with the outcome. Things took longer to do, but he still gave it his all.
He and Joyce enjoyed motorhome travel together all over the western United States deserts, a month-long trip to Alaska by motorhome, an Alaskan cruise, trips to Paris, Vienna, and Rome and a month-long exploration of England Scotland and Wales. He loved Flaming Gorge and fishing at Lake Powell while exploring its waterways in the Spartacus II.
He was immensely proud of his brother, Merle, and his family who have successfully continued the Browning Honey business begun by their father, now one of the largest in United States.
He missed Joyce so much after she passed. He said “there is just too much lonesome”.
Kaye demonstrated in his own generation the entrepreneurial handyman inventor skills gifted to him from Jonathan Browning. He was single-minded when challenged.
Kaye is survived by his brother Merle, two sisters, Clarie and Cara Lee; his 4 children, Mara (Mark) Shane, Las Vegas; Michael (Jennifer) Browning, North Salt Lake; Lynette (Lonny) Winterton, South Weber; Kelly (Teresa) Browning, Layton; 14 special grandchildren that he loved very much, 23 great grandchildren with one on the way and 1 gg grandson with another on the way. He was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Joyce, and one great grandson Elijah Winterton.
There will be a family service held at the Mountain View Chapel in South Weber on Saturday, June 25, 2022. Bishop Brent Tanner officiating. Interment will follow at the Uintah City Cemetery.
Thank you to the staff of Petersen Farms Assisted Living, Avamere at Mountain Ridge Assisted Living, South Ogden Skyline Branch, South Weber Pioneer Ward and South Weber 5th Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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Published by Myers Mortuary on Jun. 22, 2022.
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