Grundy Mortimore Brown (1900-1976)

Portrait from the Nampa Idaho Free Press, October 29, 1965.

   Just a few weeks following the profile of U.S. Senator and Judge Kirtland Irving Perky, Idaho yields another odd name political figure in Grundy Mortimore Brown, a four-term state representative from Canyon County. Brown's name was located via the 1967-68 edition of Who's Who In American Politics, a reference work that has led to profiles on three other odd-name politicians, Treffle G. Lavesque, Trible Dix Sutton, and Ordner T. Bundlie. While little exists online in regards to Brown's life and career, the aforementioned Who's Who aided immensely in terms of background information! 

   A son of George Mithrio (Mithro) and Elsie Luella (Fenton) Brown, Grundy Mortimore Brown was born in Rich Hill, Missouri on October 12, 1900. He relocated to Idaho with his family while still a child and graduated from the Mountain Home High School in that state. He married in Caldwell, Idaho in March 1923 to Ruby June Baggerly (1904-1987), to whom he was wed until his death. The couple later had three children, Robert J. (1924-2011), Norma Jean, and George Richard.

   Following his marriage, Grundy M. Brown purchased a farm near Huston, Idaho, and in the late 1920s, he and his family resettled in Nampa. In the succeeding years, Brown's name became a prominent one in that city's business community. He would be a dealer in International Harvester farming equipment and was the founder of the G.M. Brown Sons Transportation Inc., with which he was affiliated for over three decades. Brown would also serve as President of the Idaho State Transportation Association from 1952-1954. 

  Active in the civic affairs of Nampa, Grundy Brown served as a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Farm Bureau and took part in several fraternal organizations, including the Rotary Club, the Elks Lodge, the Masons, and the El Korah Temple Shrine of Boise.

   In 1960 Grundy Brown was elected as one of Nampa County's representatives to the Idaho State legislature. He served four terms in that body (1961-1968) and during this time held seats on the house committees on Insurance, Finance and Banking, Appropriations, Public Institutions and State Affairs, and chaired the committees on Transportation and Defense.

   Grundy Mortimore Brown continued to reside in Nampa until his death at a local hospital on May 8, 1976. He was survived by his wife and children and was later interred at the Kohlerlawn Cemetery in Nampa. One should also note that Brown's middle name is recorded as being spelled as both "Mortimore" and "Mortimer", the former being listed in the Who's Who In American Politics.