Christopher Francis Brownie
6259 Aged 76
Chris was born in Christchurch on 7 September 1940. He was one of eight children of Francis Mitchell (Frank) and Annie Brownie (nee Buckton). Chris attended Christ’s College and was in Harper House from 1954 to 1958. Chris married Jaan Ashworth and had five children, Tim (9005), Lisa, Dean (9292), Hamish (9801) and Sara. On leaving school, Chris was employed as a carpentry and joinery apprentice and attended carpentry classes at Technical College. Chris then started an apprenticeship at his father’s business, Brownies Mattress Service. Later on, he left for Melbourne where he met Jaan. They married in the Dandenong Ranges, Melbourne, and after a couple of years returned to Christchurch where Chris joined the New Zealand Police in 1962. During his time in the police force, Chris’s local body appointments included that of chairman of the Prebbleton Hall Society and Domain Board, raising funds for the district in order to improve the sports fields. At the same time, for 17 years he held various offices in the Lincoln Rotary Club. He was also appointed Justice of the Peace at Prebbleton in 1976, attending to various ministerial duties in the district. After leaving the Police in 1972, Chris developed building sections in the Paparua (now Selwyn) and Rangiora districts after many requests from various councils to clean up different blocks. Chris completed subdivisions with his own plant, including roading in the extensive number of building sections he developed.
Following the 1980 economic downturn, Chris and Jaan bought and expanded Brownies Mattress Service. In 1994, Chris’s son Dean took the business over as a retail/wholesale and contract business with provincial stores. From 1994, Chris carried on running a wool mill company. In 2011, he was appointed a loss adjustor for the Earthquake Commission. wriggle out of school to learn to sail P-class yachts at Brighton. Throughout his life he had all sorts of boats and sailed and fished a lot. He spent hundreds of hours at sea around Akaroa and the Marlborough Sounds. Akaroa was like a second home to him and during the years there, he helped the community by post driving piles into the seabed for the jetty at the Akaroa Sailing Club, of which he was a lifetime member. Chris was an avid reader throughout his life and especially enjoyed political debate and current affairs. Chris always had interesting stories about boats and machinery. He had a love of people and was always cheerfully optimistic. Chris enjoyed a day out at the races and he was a regular visitor to the Melbourne Cup, attending since 1960. Chris had fond memories of his Christ’s College days, and regularly attended Old Boys events and functions over the years. Sadly, Chris died suddenly on 10 April 2017. He suffered a heart attack while in the Marlborough Sounds. He is now laid to rest in the Lincoln Cemetery. Chris’s love of boats and the sea continued throughout his life. From an early age, Chris would
Chronicle 2017
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