Christopher Brown

May 2, 1957 – August 28, 2025

Christopher Lee Brown was born on May 2, 1957 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Donald Arthur Brown and Margaret Evelyn Cullen Brown. He joined older sister, Kathy and three years later, his sister Becky was born. The family moved to a house they had built in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania in 1962 where Don was employed at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. Chris’s mother died in 1963. His father married Olivia Kathleen Keracik and within a few years, brother Derek and sister Melissa were born. 

Chris attended St. Germaine Catholic Elementary School and Bethel Park High School, graduating in 1975. Chris was an altar boy and sometimes sang at St. Germaine Catholic Church. In high school, he sang in the choir and performed in musicals. Growing up, Chris enjoyed working in the yard and tending a large vegetable garden. The family traveled on camping trips, and Chris was active in Boy Scouts. Following high school, Chris joined the United States Army and served for three years as a journalist at Fort Hood, Texas. 

After his service, Chris met Linda Smith and moved to North Carolina, where she was from. There he worked on a dairy farm. They were married in 1982 and their son, Joshua Lee Brown, was born in 1984. Soon after, the family relocated to Fontana, California. Chris enrolled at Chaffey College as an English major while working on the facilities staff at the Claremont Colleges. He lovingly cared for Linda during her battle with cancer while taking care of Josh as a young child. After Linda died in 1991, he and Josh moved to the Seattle area to be closer to Chris’s sister, Kathy. He raised Josh on his own while working in construction, painting, and learning web design. Because Chris was a single parent, he sometimes had to bring young Josh along on his job sites, usually painting. Josh learned from Chris and later turned those skills into a career. Chris was a devoted father to Josh; he and Josh spent a lot of time together, playing games, reading, and biking.

Chris met Sandy Nelson in a partner dance class in 1997. They were married at First Covenant Church on November 11, 2000. Together, they bought an old house in Phinney Ridge that Chris skillfully renovated and restored prior to moving in. They were blessed with the birth of their daughter, Elsie Evelyn Nelson Brown, in January 2008. Chris was a loving father for Elsie, caring for her while Sandy was working full-time for Starbucks. Over the years, their home served as a welcoming place for dinners with friends and family, playing music together, and enjoying the fireplace inside or the fire pit outside. Chris took great care in keeping the house and yard beautifully maintained.

Chris earned a certificate in documentary filmmaking from the University of Washington, launching a career in videography. He documented the global water crisis for Water Partners and Water 1st International, traveling to Honduras, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and India to capture the impact of bringing clean water—life’s most essential resource—to communities in need.

He continued this work with Ethos Water and Starbucks, producing fundraising films and returning multiple times to Kenya, Ethiopia, and Honduras. Chris traveled so extensively during those years that his passport required extra pages—an entire new section was stitched in and eventually was also filled with entry stamps and visas. In addition to his filmmaking, Chris also provided writing and website development services for a variety of clients.

In 2017, Chris launched the video livestream program at Saint Mark’s Cathedral, allowing people to participate in Sunday services from home. He managed the cameras and sound, skillfully filming each service with a variety of angles—ranging from close-ups of speakers to wide shots of the congregation, choir, and organist. In 2019, in addition to his video work, Chris joined the full-time staff at Saint Mark’s, bringing his extensive construction experience to the care of the cathedral’s buildings and grounds, approaching every task as a meaningful part of the church’s ministry. When the pandemic shut down churches in 2020, Chris had a well-established livestream system in place and was at the cathedral every Sunday doing the livestreaming, throughout the entire year of closure. Other churches scrambled to do the same and contacted Saint Mark’s for guidance. Chris put together an instruction manual on how to successfully offer livestreaming that benefited many other churches. While the cathedral was mostly empty, Chris and the facilities manager spent time doing extra maintenance and improvements to the cathedral.

Music was an important part of Chris’s life. He played the guitar, fiddle, and banjo, and was a talented songwriter with a beautiful singing voice. He played with the String Band at First Covenant Church and sang in the Saint Mark’s Singers choir. Chris, Sandy, and Elsie played music together, too, with a variety of instruments. Recently, he was a banjo player in a large contra-dance band, Raccoon Carnival. For Chris, playing music was a true source of joy.

Chris enjoyed traveling with his family from road trips across the midwest to family reunions held all over the United States. He and Sandy twice joined Elsie’s Saint Mark’s choir on tours to England, attending daily Evensong services in historic cathedrals and visiting Melissa’s family while there. Chris went on three trips to Sweden with Sandy’s family, including time in Iceland and a trip to Greece with a Swedish tour group. He also went on memorable cruises to Alaska and to Cuba. Travel provided an expanded worldview that Chris valued.

Chris was exceptionally kind and generous—through thoughtful gifts and sharing his time and his talents. He was always willing to help Sandy and Elsie with their various art shows and art installations, no matter how ambitious the project. He had a keen sense of humor. Chris was a devoted husband, father, brother, loyal friend to many and cherished uncle to his nieces and nephews. 

Chris had a life guided by deep faith. He prayed with conviction and listened to God’s leading. He participated in a Bible reading group from First Covenant Church, every Friday, that formed lasting friendships and developed a profound understanding of scripture. Chris was grateful for his church families from both Saint Mark’s and First Covenant Church.

Chris was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2024. After a short but intense treatment journey, he died on Thursday, August 28, 2025. There were memorial services for Chris on November 8 (First Covenant Church) and November 9 (Saint Mark’s Cathedral). He will be interred in the Memorial Garden at Saint Mark’s.