Mr. Jerry Ray Brown, II, better known to White County as Ray Brown, age 42 of the Browntown community passed away at 3:28am on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at Alive Hospice in Nashville after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Ray was born August 4, 1983 in Sparta, Tennessee to Jerry Ray and Anita Faye Allen Brown, I. He had a work career that included J & S Construction, THK Rhythm and most recently as a blister engineer for Aphena Pharma Solutions. Ray was an avid outdoorsman, loving primitive camping, hunting and fishing. He loved spending time on the lake and roasting hot dogs with his grandchild on a campfire.

Ray served his community as a longtime member of the Sparta-White County Rescue Squad and has served as the chief for a number of years. He will be fondly remembered as a jokester, but mostly be remembered as a good friend that made many people feel better in his company.

Ray is preceded in death by his grandparents, Thomas and Cora Lou Cole Brown, William and Lillian Bean Allen.

Surviving family members left to cherish his memory include his wife Kerrie West Brown

Parents: Jerry and Anita Brown

Sisters: Shawna Kirby and husband Brian, Renee Brown and Jeremy Phillips

Stepdaughters: Kelsey Davis and husband Trent, Kassidy Roberts

Grandchild: London Foster

Nieces: Whitney Kirby, Ava Sims, Kalen Sims, Madelyn Sims, Hannah-Kate Sims, Laynna Sims, Ashlynn Phillips and Callie Phillips

Nephews: Jackson Savage and Marshall Sims

A host of extended family, friends as well as  brothers and sisters of emergency services of the Upper Cumberland and beyond also survive

Funeral services will be conducted 1:00pm Saturday, February 28, 2026 at First Baptist Church of Sparta with burial in Eldridge Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 3-8:00pm Friday and after 10:00am Saturday at the church. Clayton Lee, Jr. will officiate.

Josh Simmons, Justin Simmons, Wade Judd, T.C. Good, Derick Bilbrey and Caleb Anderson will serve the family was pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers are Jackson Savage, Nathan West, B.T. Young, Mike Mclatchy, Trevor Vaughn, Trey Upchurch, Cody Dean and Justin Ashburn.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hunter Funeral Home, PO Box 90, Sparta, TN 38583 to help the Brown family with funeral expenses.