Montynne Downs Griffin Brown passed away on May 25, 2026, peacefully in her home. She was born on the 26th of September 1937 in Wright City, McCurtain County, Oklahoma, to Walter Lee “Shorty” Downs and Lillie S. Finney Downs.

She attended school in Wright City, Oklahoma, until her family moved back to Montrose, Mississippi where she graduated from Bay Springs High School in 1956.

Her hobbies included cooking, sewing, and canning- just like her mother. She is preceded in death by her parents, her first husband, James Samuel Griffin; her youngest son, James Michael Griffin, and her second husband, Jerry “Bud” Brown, as well as her sisters, Kathleen(Houston) Read, Maxine (Grady) Knotts, and Dean (Fitz) McCoy; as well as her only brother, Charles Ray Downs.

When she was a little girl, Montynne went to Laurel shopping with her parents to buy her daddy a suit for church. Even though she was 6 years old, she developed such a crush on the very handsome salesman who sold her daddy a brown suit at Fine Brothers Madison. When they got in the car, she told her mother, “Someday I’m going to marry that man!” Several years later, she met him again, and this time, she really did marry “the man who sold daddy the brown suit!” She and Jim Griffin were married in Raleigh, Mississippi, on March 15, 1959. They became the proud parents of Deborah Ann, David Lee, and James Michael Griffin.

After Jim passed away in 1999, she happened t meet her high school sweetheart when he was visiting family in Bay Springs. Jerry “Bud” Brown and Montynne were married on the 10th of July 1999 in Bay Springs, before going to Fredericksburg, Texas, where they lived until Jerry’s death in 2016, when she moved back to Bay Springs.

During her lifetime in Jasper County, Montynne worked for the Bay Springs Telephone Company, a sewing factory in Newton, Dr. Oscar Briseno, T-W-L, Sumrall Food Service and Soil Conservation Service. She especially loved working for Dr. Briseno.

Montynne was always cooking for people and took great pride in her cooking skills. We certainly enjoyed her biscuits when we were growing up!

Her passing ends another generation in our family, which brings great sadness. We were taught to support each other as family, no matter what challenges life brings.

Mother’s wishes were to have a small, simple graveside service for family. Arrangements are being entrusted to Colonial Chapel of Bay Springs. Interment will be in Antioch Cemetery in Jasper County, where she will be buried next to her parents and her youngest son, Michael. Bro. Dean Cook will officiate. She leaves behind her two children, Deborah (Kevin) Roberts, and David (Becky) Griffin, a grandson, Lee (Casey) Griffin, Deborah’s five children, David’s stepchildren, and several great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, including Jaycie, Marcy, Levi, and Lilly Griffin.

Pall bearers are Lee Griffin, Levi Griffin, Stacy Collins, Piro Page, Byron King, and Tommy Jones. Honorary pall bearers are Jamie Pugh, Kenny Mayo, Caulie Mayo, and Kevin Roberts.