John Charles Browning, 78, has gone home to the Lord. John was born February 3, 1939 in Garnet, Michigan, at home, to Heyward and Ruth Opal Browning. He was the fifth of eight children.
John grew up in Garnet, Michigan, his father owning and operating a cedar shingle mill on their property. John attended Rexton School. During school and in summers, John worked at the shingle mill with his father and brothers.
John married Prebble Mae Jourden in 1960, and they moved into a small house next to Heyward and Ruth, and began a family.
Over the years, John worked at various occupations, providing for his family. In the early sixties work was scarce in the U.P, and with two children, he and Prebble moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where he drove a bus. The move was short-lived, and within a year the young family had moved back to Garnet.
John continued working at the Browning Shingle Mill, toiling to keep his family's needs met. In the late sixties he was a pipeline maintenance worker and security guard. He enjoyed traveling as part of his pipeline job, sometimes taking his wife and a child with him on trips.
In 1971 he began working at Sand Products, as a machinery operator among other jobs, a position he held for 33 years, until his retirement in 2003. He was instrumental in helping build the company.
In 2004 John lost his wife Prebble to cancer, a single year after retiring from Sand Products. He remained living in their home in Garnet, with his beloved dog "Schnauzer", until his illness and death. Prebble's passing, after 43 years together, left a hollow space in his life that was never filled.
John was a husband, father, uncle, brother, grandfather, and great-grandpa, and greatly enjoyed visiting with everyone. He was fond of computers, and computer games, particularly simulations, and shared this hobby with many, especially his grandkids.
John was into computers years before it was mainstream, tinkering with his Vic20s and Commodore computers for hours. He was also into amateur "ham" radio, conversing with distant friends he'd met and laughing with them over the airwaves. His radio room was a small laboratory of technology, under the eaves upstairs, and he had a lot of fun with his Settlers games, his Zork games, and his radio.
In later years, John enjoyed visiting, playing with his dog, and taking his chances at casinos, where he would sit and visit at least as much as he fed the slots.

John leaves behind him a large extended family including his sons Calvin Browning and John Browning, his daughters Tammy Bigelow, Norma Keller, and Melisa Keller, as well as a daughter-in-law, Elaine (John Browning), and three sons-in-law, Frank (Tammy) Bigelow, John (Norma) Keller, and Steve (Melisa) Keller. He was preceded in death by his wife Prebble, and his daughter-in-law Marion (Calvin) Browning, his brothers Franklin and Robert, sister Dorothy, and grandson, Dereck Browning. John is also survived by two brothers, Sam and Kenneth, a sister, Darlene, 15 grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren. Though he has gone, he will remain in the memories of all who knew him as brother, uncle, dad, grandpa, or great-grandpa. "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." A funeral service will be held Friday, April 21, 2017 at the Rexton Church at 11:00 a.m., Pastor Tim Miller officiating. A memorial dinner will follow in the church hall.