When Amos Brown’s wife and children talk about him, they can’t help but smile.

He was a family man, a church-goer, an educator, a piano player and a gardener. He was many things to many people.

And as his family sat together in their Troy home Thursday and shared stories of their father and husband, it was clear he left this world well-loved.

“He always would tell (his children) when they went out, ‘if you see trouble you walk away and you call me,’” said Brown’s wife of 31-years Mason. “He was like their guardian angel.”

But Brown wasn’t just a guardian to his family. Serving as a school teacher, assistant principal of Charles Henderson High School, principal of Charles Henderson Middle School and an employee in the Troy City Schools Central Office, Brown touched the lives of many in his 31 years in the local school system.

“His motto was ‘every child can learn,’” his wife said.

That held true for the children in the classroom, and it held true for his children, too.

His family — daughter Atresha, 30; and sons, Amos Q., 28, and Aubrey, 25; his only grandson Caleb; and his wife Mason — held his heart.

“Sunday, March 6, was Mom’s birthday, so we were all here together, not knowing that was the last time we’d spend with Daddy,” Atresha said.

Brown, 65, was the victim of a fatal crash Tuesday afternoon in Lumpkin, Ga., near where he worked as assistant superintendent of Quitman City Schools.

Brown had retired from the Troy City Schools system to take care of his sick father.

“He was really big on doing everything he could for his dad — I guess you would say honoring his father,” Atresha said. “He stayed retired for a year after (his father) died. Then he said no one was at the house, so he might as well go back and work.”

That’s when Brown joined Quitman County Schools, where he has served for the last nine years. Atresha said her father stayed in an apartment in Georgetown, Ga., during the week, but there were many days he just had to come home to be with those he loved most.

And now that they’re older, the children could recognize just how much their father loved them.

“He always wanted to make sure we were taken care of,” said Amos. “I’m going to miss the expression on his face when he saw me — contentment.”

“One thing I remember he told me when he was getting his family started he only had one or two suits,” Aubrey added.

“His coworkers asked why he wore the same thing. He told them he was trying to save money. He would neglect himself to save money for us.”

“I told him a year or two ago the older I got, I observed the way he cared about us,” Atresha continued. “I began to truly understand how much God loves me through the example I had as an earthly father figure.”

For Aubrey, father of Caleb, the relationship with his father was different.

“I’m going to miss the fatherly advice he gave me,” his son said. “Since I work at the Troy Fire Department, he would always ask if I wanted him to come home and watch Caleb.”

Mason said her husband was close to retiring once again, this time to come home and help his grandson.

“He has a mild case of autism, and (Amos) wanted to make sure he didn’t get behind,” she said.

But, the family now sees that wasn’t part of the plan.

Even though their beloved father and husband is gone, he didn’t leave them without being prepared.

“He had a meeting with us last year that in the event something were to happen to him, how he wanted everything carried out,” Atresha said.

“He never expected to die this soon, but even before I left Sunday on Mom’s birthday, one of the last things he showed me was where his documents were.”

Atresha said her father always wrote poems, and in his documents, he left them a poem.

“It was called ‘Words of Comfort.’ He said don’t grieve for him a long time,” she said.

The funeral arrangements have not been decided yet. Arrangements will be handled by Harrison Funeral Home.