Oct. 27, 1928 – Sept. 27, 2012

NATCHEZ — Services for James Clyde Browning, 83, of Natchez, who died Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, at his residence, will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Trinity Episcopal Church with the Rev. Walton Jones and the Rev. Darian Duckworth officiating.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until service time Monday at the church.

Local arrangements are under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.

Burial will be at Truscott Cemetery in Truscott, Texas.

Mr. Browning was born Oct. 27, 1928, in Mineral Wells, Texas, the son of Clyde Campbell Browning and Grace Acker Browning. His family moved to Truscott where he grew up. He graduated high school from Peacock Military Academy in San Antonio, Texas and attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.

Mr. Browning joined the U.S. Army in 1955, and graduated from Officer Candidate School in Lawton, Okla. In 1960, he moved to Natchez and was employed by Walter O’Bannon Pump Company as a salesman. He founded his own business, Browning Oil Tools, Inc., which manufactures down hole production pumps for the oil industry. He was the inventor of the famous “Browning On and Off Tool” that revolutionized down hole oil well pumps.

It’s a well known fact that he loved animals, especially dogs.

Mr. Browning was past president of the Confederate Oil Invitational Golf Tournament and also past president of the National Navioneers Aircraft Club.

He was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Catherine Wright, and her husband, Dean.

Survivors include his wife of 23 years, Kay Browning; one son, Jim Browning of Crowell, Texas; one daughter, Barbara Browning Wilson and husband, Bob Wilson; one granddaughter, Anne Browning Wilson; one grandson, Joseph R. Wilson, all of Marietta, Ga.; one stepdaughter, Bonnie Jones of Shreveport, La., and her children, Morgan Pearson and husband, Colton, Benjamin Jones and Paige Jones.

Pallbearers will be Allen Brown, Fred Rogers, Doug Fisher, Frank Grantham, Marshall Day, Colton Pearson, Gregory Peacock and John Holyoak.

Honorary pallbearers will be Carl Passman, Rudy Krueger, Harold Jefcoat, Brian Distefano, Victor Sarris, Ken Hungerford, Bill Skinner and Archie Clark.

The family extends deep gratitude to Dr. Kenneth Stubbs, the staff at Fresenius Dialysis Center and Deaconess Hospice staff, Reggie Robson and Sheila Evans. A special thank you to caregivers, Paul Hargrave, Geraldine Freeman, Johnette Myles, Thelma Noble, Mary Rowan, Betty Squalls, Rosie Stewart and Jackie White.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the Natchez-Adams County Humane Society, Pleasant Acre Day School, St. Jude Children’s Hospital or to a charity of choice.

Online condolences may be sent to www.lairdfh.com.