Matthew Jon Brown, age 50, was made whole again on November 17^th, 2021.  Matt was born June 27^th, 1971 in Canton, Ohio and grew up mostly in the Springfield, MO area.  He graduated from Central High School in 1989 and from Missouri State University in 2000 with a degree in Secondary Education/Biology.  His plan was to teach high school, but when the opportunity arose for him to join the Springfield Police Academy, he jumped at the chance to fulfill a childhood dream of joining law enforcement.  He graduated from the 47th police academy and served for 21 years as a dedicated police officer for the community of Springfield.  He served in many different roles during his time there, but his favorite contributions were teaching in the academy and serving with the honor guard.  Teaching was a gift for him, and he simply adored putting effort into training new recruits either through the academy or through serving as a Field Training Officer.  He also spent time as department spokesperson, detective and hostage negotiator.  The last year of his time at the SPD was spent on a patrol squad, he wanted to round out his profession by going back to the traditional basics that originally drew him to a career in law enforcement.

Concurrently, Lieutenant Colonel Matt Brown had a 25 year career with the Missouri Army National Guard.  After serving years as an enlisted soldier, he was commissioned through Officer Candidate School in 1999 as a 2^nd Lieutenant.  He served as a Platoon Leader for 4 years. In 2009, Matt deployed to Afghanistan where he served he as the Battalion Plans Officer.  While deployed, he received a Bronze Star medal for his work with the 203^rd Engineer Battalion that conducted route clearance operations in Regional Command East, Afghanistan.  In 2011 he served as the 294^th Engineer Company Commander.  In 2015, he served as the Executive Officer for the 203^rd followed in 2017 by serving as the S3 for the 110^th MEB.  In 2020 he served as the XO for the 35^th Engineer Brigade.  Just prior to his death, he was chosen by senior leaders to take command of the 203^rd Engineer Battalion this coming spring.  Aside from his family, there was nothing in his life that he was more proud of and passionate about than his service to his country.  He was immensely patriotic and would have laid down his life for any of his fellow soldiers, no questions asked.

Matt married and is survived by the love of his life, Kelly, in 1994.  Throughout their 27 year marriage, they were blessed with three beautiful children: His oldest daughter Bailey (married to Brandon Blackmann), his only son Evan and youngest daughter Mallory.  In the last 2 years, Bailey and Brandon blessed him with the title of “Papa” with his two grandsons Loren (Ren) and Dmitry (Meechi). He adored his family with all of his heart, nothing was more important.  He was the best hands on dad and Papa, always up for being playful and silly.  Parenting and grand parenting came so naturally to him and this title he was most proud of.

Other surviving family members include his parents, 10 siblings and their spouses, a host of in-laws and nieces and nephews.  He especially idolized his brother Mike and modeled much of his life after him.  Matt also leaves behind an infinite number of brothers and sisters in Blue and fellow service men and women and friends.  He was kind to everyone and was a beautiful human.  He had a heart of gold and will be missed more than words can ever express.  You were and are so loved Matt- we wish we could have saved you but we find comfort in knowing you are in the presence of God and living out eternity in paradise until we meet again.

Services for Matt will be 11:00 am Tuesday, November 23, 2021 at Northside Christian Church. Interment with full military honors will follow at Missouri Veterans Cemetery. Visitation will be from 9:00 to 11:00 am prior to the service.

In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to:   https://gofund.me/8c227c13

Service will be streamed on the “Northside Christian” YouTube channel.

The direct link is:  https://www.youtube.com/user/NorthsideChristian