Engineer, administrator.
Born at Winnipeg on 29 May 1895, one of four children of Simeon Robbie Brownell (1869-1937) and Mary Powell Hodgins (?-?), he worked at the Winnipeg Tribune before enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1914 and serving with the Winnipeg Artillery.
After his military discharge, he returned to the Tribune. He later moved to Winnipeg Hydro and was transferred to Pointe du Bois where he worked from 1921 to 1940. At that time, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and served overseas from 1940 to 1945 as a Commissioned Radar Officer. He later returned to Hydro and continued there until retirement in 1960, being Superintendent of the Pointe du Bois Generating Station (1954-1960).
On 24 December 1918, he married Mildred Myrtle Ellerington (?-?) at Winnipeg. They had two sons, Kenneth Norman Brownell (1919-?) and Harold Roy Brownell (1928-2010).
He died at the Misericordia Hospital on 16 July 1977 and was buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens.
Marriage registration [Simeon Robbie Brownell, Mary Powell Hodgins], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Birth registration [James Harold Brownell], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Marriage registration [James Harold Brownell, Mildred Myrtle Ellerington], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Birth registration [Kenneth Norman Brownell], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Death registration [Simeon Robert Brownell], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary [Simion R. Brownell], Winnipeg Tribune, 30 April 1937, page 11.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 19 July 1977, page 30.
Obituary [Harold Roy Brownell], Edmonton Journal, 28 January 2010, page 26.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 25 January 2026
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