Brown, Roy Wesley
![](images/brown_rw.jpg)
Biography:
(1906 – 1985) In 1940, he married Elsie
May Wood
Claims: Studied music in Winnipeg, becoming proficient as an
instrumentalist on several instruments. He organized the only orchestra
in Canada having a saxophone section comprised of all brothers. The
orchestra gained national recognition during the Big Band Era when it
played at Riding Mountain National Park, the Cave Cabaret in Winnipeg,
ballrooms in Brandon and gave radio broadcasts.
Composer. Writer. Inventor.
Brown received the Ralph Nader Award for his invention of the
“Pre-Vent”. This device helped to stop snow from entering the defrost
system of automobiles (at a time when vents were on top of the hood),
frosting up the inside of windows and causing accidents
Roy later became a well-known and influential Brandon and Area
historian.
Probable Significance:
Source: Trails to Killarney p / Reflections
p. 223, 118, 176
Images: As Above:
Content: Some additional information
![](images/BrownsOrchestra.jpg)
Brown’s Orchestra (1960) Percy, Tom, Roy, Joe , Frank
From
the Local History Sources...
Roy
took his first music lessons from his Uncle John, then took lessons
from Miss Runnings, who taught piano in Killarney. He later studied
music in Winnipeg, becoming proficient as an instrumentalist on several
instruments. He also studied orchestral arranging. He organized the
only orchestra in Canada having a saxophone section comprised of all
brothers. The orchestra gained national recognition during the Big Band
Era when it played at Riding Mountain National Park, the Cave Cabaret
in Winnipeg, ballrooms in Brandon and gave radio broadcasts.
LOOKING BACK by Roy Brown
Every year or two, I go back to Pleasant View Farm to stand on
the hill overlooking the Pembina Valley and the farm where we once
lived. And, as I reflect those won- derful days, I can recall the
following events: the happy times we five brothers spent playing in the
elm bush; digging for artifacts in the buffalo deadfalls; the tents we
made from Dad's binder canvass (which had to be taken down come
harvest); the eggs we used to boil in a tin pail over a campfire
(sometimes finding a chicken embryo); the hockey games we played using
a frozen horse bun and a willow stick; the annual Northcote school
concerts and the dances that followed; the Night Owl parties that
continued through the night and we had difficulty getting home because
of an untimely blizzard; the baseball tournaments in Masons' pasture in
the Tisdale District; the excitement getting ready for the Killarney
Fair - mother busy making butter and bread for competition and dad
grooming his favorite horse for the horse and buggy event; the times we
snuck away from the fair and had a "bare scotty" swim in the lake; the
music emanating from Kosy Kove Dances from Cross and King's pavilion;
Penwick Hunter's boat rides on the lake during the Fair and special
events; the many hours I spent chording on the piano while Uncle Dick
practiced up for the next party; the trips to town every summer
Saturday night and we five boys standing in line to receive "change"
(for ice cream cones in either Kent's or the McKnight store) from Dad
and he would warn us to be back at the "Grey Dort" no later than 11:30
or we would have to walk home over a dusty road in the dark. As I stand
on that hill, I can still hear our mother calling us to dinner. Ah!
those were the good times - would that they could be repeated.
Lawrence, George (See Early Politicians)
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