James T. Brown, 67, of Grinnell died peacefully on July 7, 2022, at his home, surrounded by his family. A celebration of life gathering will be held from 2pm - 5pm Saturday, August 20, 2022 at the Grinnell Eagles. In Lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be designated to the James Brown Memorial Fund and sent in care of the Smith Funeral Home, PO Box 368, Grinnell, IA 50112. Jim was born on October 26, 1954, in Grinnell, to Joe and Bernadine Brown. He was raised in Grinnell and graduated with the Class of 1972 from Grinnell High School. Jim was united in marriage to Teresa Collum on August 10, 1973, in Grinnell. Jim lived a quiet life that was focused not on himself, but those around him. For 35 years, he served the community of Grinnell, specifically the Water Treatment Plant, retiring in October 2020. There were thousands of people on countless days that used and drank the water that he and his team produced. He cared deeply for the town of Grinnell. He provided well for his wife and four children. Starting a family at age 19 forced him to mature fast. It was either all that responsibility or the intimidation of his father-in-law that motived him to get his act together early on in life. It was important to him and his wife Terry that she could stay home and focus on raising their children. Their marriage modeled to their children, friends, and family how to love well. Jim's humility was effortless. He was always interested in what you had going on in your world and never made it about him. He loved learning new things and teaching others if they were willing to listen. He knew a lot about a lot of things but was not a know-it-all. He enjoyed astronomy and some of his favorite moments were spent taking his family from their sleep to drive out to a dusty country road and look up at the stars. Jim had a love for many sports. As an athlete in high school, he was the quarterback of the football team and center on the basketball team. He enjoyed watching golf, the St. Louis Cardinals, and generally rooted for the underdog in all the other sports. He was laid back and took life as it came to him. You could always talk him into a game of cribbage or pepper. He enjoyed meticulously recording scores of card games with his special pen. He loved vacations with his family camping, driving to the Outer Banks, and occasionally the mountains. He enjoyed jazz, and classic rock. He didn't preach integrity, he lived it. How you treat another human being, how you interact with neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family was of the utmost importance. He quietly went about a life working hard at his craft, minding his own business, never drawing attention to himself or his struggles, but always focused outward. He was always asking himself who needed his time and who needed his help. His family gave up going on store runs with him because he would run into someone in town and the 10-minute trip turned into one hour. What made Jim the proudest was his key relationships with his family. He knew his wife Terry since junior high school, he loved her deeply, and they were happily married for nearly 49 years. He loved grilling the Thanksgiving turkey and family gatherings with his children and grandchildren. When those family members were happy and thriving, he was most satisfied with life. If the aim of Jim's life was love, he hit the bullseye. He is survived by his wife, Teresa; children, Revea (Shaft) Baker, Averil Brown, Caleb (Rachael) Brown and Nate (Gina) Brown; grandchildren, Jacob (Bridget) Brown, Hailey and Jordan Baker, Jenna, Adalynn, and Hannah Brown, Ishani and Ariyana Brown; siblings Mike and Pat Brown. He was preceded in death by his parents.