Christopher "Chris" Keightley Brown

Christopher (Chris) Keightley Brown age 75 passed away peacefully and without pain in his home of 40 years after a 15-year battle with cancer.

Chris was born on March fourth, 1947, in Sydney Australia to father Colin Keightley Brown and Mother Dawn Christmas Brown. Chris is survived by his wife Cecelia (Miller) Brown of Petaluma, CA, his son Samuel Christopher Brown, his elder sister Cherilyn Keightley Craig and brother-in-law Ian Craig of Newcastle Australia, and younger brother Philip Keightley Brown, and sister-in-law Anne Brown of Tasmania Australia.

When Chris was four years old his family moved from the coastal town of Wollongong New South Whales Australia to a dairy farm in Robertson New South Wales. While there Chris found his first and lasting love of animals and the land. He learned to ride on the farm horse “Boney” and trained him to do tricks like he saw performed at country circuses.

When Chris was 8 years old his family moved back to Wollongong so his father could resume his law practice. Living on the coast Chris soon found a new passion: surfing. At the age of 10 Chris learned to surf with his father and in a few short years had earned and purchased his own 9’ Longboard. He walked to the beach every day carrying his board on his shoulders much to the chagrin of his parents and teachers!

Loving to surf yet recognizing it was not his ultimate destiny, Chris left home at the age of 16 to join an apprentice program for future farmers and ranchers to become a Jackaroo with the large land company Scottish Australia. After 8 years of traveling from state to state in the Australian outback for his employer, Chris had an opportunity to pursue his first love of horses by traveling to the U.S. to study the development of the American Quarter Horse. He had hoped to import well bred horses to Australia. Once in the U.S, however, he discovered the equine sport of Cutting Horses and knew that was to be his future. He stayed in the U.S., and began training cutting horses.

In 1982 Chris married his wife of 40 years Cecelia Ann (Miller) Brown of Petaluma, CA. They purchased a horse facility in Santa Rosa and established their business—Chris Brown Cutting Horses—where he raised and trained cutting horses for customers as well as trained many nonprofessional riders for competition. Here he made his living doing what he loved most in the world: being surrounded by nature and his animals which have always included horses, cattle, Border Collie dogs and birds.

Chris and Cecelia’s only child, Sam was born in 1989 and resides with his wife Kathleen in Winnemucca, Nevada, following in his father’s footsteps running a large cattle ranch using horses he has trained with his dogs as helpers.

A celebration of life service will be held on Wednesday November 9th at 11:00 AM at Parent Sorensen Mortuary 850 Keokuk St. Petaluma, CA. A memorial gathering will follow at the Petaluma Woman’s Club located at 518 B Street Petaluma, CA.

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Memorial Service

Wednesday, November 09, 2022

11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory