Roger J. Browne III

Roger James Browne, III, 69, passed into the arms of his Saviour, Jesus Christ, on July 1st, 2026, in San Antonio, Texas. Roger, also known as Trip, was born on November 12, 1956, in El Paso, Texas, to Roger James Browne, II, and H. Virginia Browne (Butler), who both predecease him. He is survived by his daughter, Olivia Grace Browne, and his granddaughter, Jett Autumn Browne-Jenkins.

After a long illness Roger died with his daughter, Olivia, and Meredith Browne, by his side.

As an ‘Army Brat,’ Roger and his family moved all over the country. He was born in Texas and lived in New York, Washington, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Virginia. He also lived in Rome, Italy, then returned to the United States and chose to live in Houston, TX. From there, he moved to Austin, where he married Meredith Hornbuckle on June 18, 1994. They lived in Austin, then moved to Lago Vista where they welcomed their daughter, Olivia, in March 1999. They moved back to Austin soon after Olivia was born to be closer to work.

Roger completed some college and was always an artist, enjoying drawing and painting with gouache, watercolor, and pen and ink. He made his living in sales—cars, insurance, men’s clothing, Whole Foods, and as a mortgage broker. His family often said he could sell freezers to the Inuit.

He also loved to cook and would plan and prepare everything from the hors d’oeuvres to the main course. He counted on Whole Foods for bread and dessert!

Roger was particularly proud to be a Texan and despite moving throughout his youth, he always called Texas home. His favorite color was orange, a gorgeous Texas sunset! Roger was also quite the dapper dresser! He enjoyed dressing to the ‘9s’ and loved when those around him were dressed up, too. The man loved to shop as well as gift everything from jewelry to pottery to art. He was an exceptional salesman and when he was selling men’s clothing, he could eyeball a man and determine the size of his suit as well as the size of his wallet.

Roger was a storyteller and one of the best he ever told was that of receiving his new heart:

On December 30, 2013, the medical staff at Seton Hospital in Austin found the perfect heart for him. At the time he had had a Left Ventricular Assistive Device, aka L_VAD, installed to help his heart beat. He suffered from heart failure, and his heart just could not keep up. On that day, he received a phone call but could not find his cell phone. He really thought nothing of it. He had been on the transplant list for three or 4 months and certainly they would not be calling so soon.

In the meantime, it was the transplant team! They started calling everyone on his contact list to try to get a hold of him. Eventually, Meredith received a phone call from our Mom in Colorado, telling her they have a heart for Roger! Meredith flew to Roger’s house banging on his door. He opened it and she said, “hurry, they have a heart for you! We have to get down to the hospital! “

As I recall him telling the story, time slowed down and he said, “I need to take a shower.”

Meredith replied, “No. You don’t! Let’s go!” They got his bag packed and off they went flying down Mo-Pac to Seton Hospital. Meredith was exceeding the speed limit, and rightly so, but Trip said, “Mere, we’re going to be Catholic today and say the ‘Our Father’ so let’s go…Our Father, who art in heaven…’ And they repeated it all the way to the hospital. Meredith came screeching into admittance, helped Roger out the car and into a wheelchair. She pushed him into the hospital, and of course, the reception desk gal said, “I’ll need your insurance and ID.”

Roger replied, “Nope, I’m going to get a new heart!” and they wheeled him off to surgery. Of course, the ever-faithful Meredith had his id and cards and gave them to the receptionist.

He entered the surgery arena right away, and when he woke up the next day, he could hear his new heart, gentle as could be ‘flub-dub, flub-dub, flub-dub,” and he quietly thanked the Lord.

In the years following although his heart was strong, the rest of his body slowly began to struggle. He moved to Colorado in April 2021 and lived with our mother until she passed in June 2024. The next January, he returned to his beloved Texas, but San Antonio this time instead of Austin, to be near his daughter, Olivia, and his granddaughter, Jett.

To say he was proud of Olivia would be an understatement. He was so proud of how successful she was academically; how she graduated college while being a single mom; and how she works hard to provide for herself and her daughter. She was loved dearly by my brother, and he often said she was his greatest accomplishment. Having that granddaughter! That was icing on the cake!

Roger was a man of faith, the Christian faith. After his heart transplant he attended a Presbyterian church in Austin, then when he moved to Colorado Springs, he joined our parents’ church, Forestgate Presbyterian, a PCA church. He was very involved in the men’s group, with Bible Study and with the prayer breakfast. Many times, he would tell me of some scripture that spoke to him of God’s love and mercy towards him and how he was so grateful that he was a saved man, saved by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for him, then rose again, so that Trip could eventually join him in heaven.

Services will be on July 14, 2026, at Sunset Memorial Park, San Antonio. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Roger’s honor to Tunnels to Towers (http://www.t2t.org) or Samaritan’s Purse (http://www.samaritanspurse.org).