Jaylen Christopher Brown

On January 14, 2025, Jaylen Christopher Brown, 5, of Elk Grove, Ca, peacefully transitioned from the loving arms of his family, into God’s eternal embrace. Jaylen was born on October 14, 2019, at Sutter Memorial Hospital, in Sacramento, California, to his parents Rob Brown and Candice Brown. 

Jaylen touched more lives in his 5 years, than many have in a lifetime! He truly embodied his name. A few of the meanings behind his name are calm, tranquil, healer, youthful, and lion strength. Young and old were drawn to his Christ-like demeanor and magnetic personality. He spread immense joy and love everywhere he went. He never met a person who was not a potential friend. 

Jaylen accepted Christ at an early age, and he loved everything about church. He loved his classroom activities, playing with the other kids, and reciting his speeches. He absolutely loved to sing praise and worship, so much so, that one day he got out of his seat, walked up on stage, grabbed a microphone, and starting singing with the praise team. He repeated this every Sunday service and Tuesday night bible study, when his health allowed. Jaylen loved helping with the offering, Pastor laying hands on him and praying over him, and if he perceived an anointing in the air, he wanted to experience it. 

It has often been said, by those that met Jaylen, that he was far more advanced than his age indicated. He taught himself to read at the tender age of two. He was so full of uncommon wisdom. He walked through this life with such an air of grace and humility. He exuded joy and happiness, even during his hospital stays and numerous appointments. You could not possibly have a bad day when you were in his presence. As his family, we have even adopted the familiar phrase, WWJD. And in many future situations, we will ask of ourselves, “What Would Jaylen Do” (WWJD)?

Some of Jaylen’s favorite activities were playing video games on his Nintendo Switch or his Playground gaming system, playing “Sneaky Sasquatch” on his I-Pad with his Dad and his sister, looking up tech stuff on his I-Pad, checking the smart home appliances on “YaYa or PaPa’s” phone, playing with his DJ Mixer, singing Karaoke, and playing with his many transformer-type toys. Jaylen loved to make videos while talking to his pretend YouTube subscribers, making sure that they liked and subscribed. He liked riding his bike and going to the park to play and meet new kids. At times, he was just happy playing a friendly game of Connect Four. Even though friendly, make no mistake, he was competitive in any game he played. However, to Jaylen the most important thing was spending quality time with his family and friends. If not in person, he would reach out through Facetime. When it came time for his visitors to depart, he never wanted to see them leave, especially his Uncle D and his Aunty Jessica, who both became an integral part of Jaylen’s day to day life.

Jaylen loved the water, any water, even if it was his kiddie pool or running through the sprinklers. His favorite trips were to the Great Wolf Lodge water park. In November 2024, he took a special family trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios California. We had so much fun. It was quite a highlight. But, Jaylen also enjoyed his outings to his favorite store, Target. His first stop would always be the electronics department, to see what new tech gadgets were out. Only then would he move on to the toy department. Jaylen loved riding his new Electric Scooter, and aptly named it “Cyber-Scooter”, due to his love of Teslas’. The ultimate highlight of his Tesla fascination was when he got to ride in his Uncle JoJo’s new Tesla Cyber-Truck. He was even able to show Uncle a few new Tesla tricks. Jaylen had an innate ability to absorb knowledge about any type of electronic gadget or device, without being shown. And if intrigued, he would challenge himself by going on YouTube to learn how to better operate his or your new device. 

Jaylen loved to “Save the City or the World”, while playing with his Superhero toys and enjoyed dressing up in his many costumes, especially Flash, Spiderman, Captain America, and Iron Man. Jaylen’s latest adventures included his and his sister’s dog, Milo. In fact, he titled his adventures “A Boy and His Dog”. Milo brought so much joy to Jaylen’s everyday life. He especially loved it when Milo would get so excited that he ran around and around in circles. Jaylen called it the “zoomies”. Milo would often wake him in the morning by jumping on his bed and licking him awake.

 Jaylen’s enduring legacy will be entrusted to his parents Rob Brown (Brittany) of Elk Grove, Ca, and Candice Brown of Washington, DC, a sister, Myliah Brown, and a bonus brother and sister named Jace and Brielle of Elk Grove, Ca, and Paternal Grandparents, Chris and Regina Brown (affectionately known as “Buddy & YaYa”) all of Elk Grove, Ca, Maternal Grandparents, Annette Malveaux (“Grammy”), of Fairfield, Ca and Melvin Davis, of Antioch, Ca, Paternal Great-Grandmother Ruth Armstead (“MaMa”) of Elk Grove, Ca, Maternal Great-Grandmother Ruby Arceneaux (“Grandma Ruby”) of Vacaville, Ca, Aunt Ganesha Brown (“Aunty Nesha/Sleeping Beauty”) and Uncle Dominique Brown (Jessica) (“Uncle D” & “Aunty Jessica”) all of Elk Grove, Aunts Zuria Young (Justin) (“Aunty Zuria”) of Bethesda, Maryland, Neriah Malveaux (“Aunty Riah”) and Kaiyah Malveaux (“Aunty Kaiyah’), both of Fairfield, Ca, Great Uncles Reggie Armstead of Elk Grove, Ca, Guss Armstead (Christa) of Sacramento, Ca, and Pastor Darrell Armstead (Audre) of Stockton, Ca, Great Aunts Rhonda Irons (Jory) (Aunty “RoRo” & Uncle “JoJo”) and Robin Armstead (Aunty Robin), all of Elk Grove, as well as a host of other aunts, uncles, cousins, and close family friends. Jaylen was also blessed by a very special bond that he shared with his God-mother, Lauren Madison, of Sacramento, Ca. 

But never to be forgotten was the incredibly unique bond that he formed with what he called “His Family/His Team” at UC Davis Medical Center. His awesome family included ALL of the medical staff that provided such excellent care to him. This encompassed everyone from his Hem/Onc team of doctors and nurses, Pediatric Surgery staff, Radiology staff, Infusion Center staff, including the front desk team, the Davis 7 nurses, the STEPS team, Child-Life staff, and all of his close friends (staff and volunteers) at the D-7 Playroom. His family also included the staff at the Main Entrance Information desk, cafeteria staff, and all of the Valet parking attendants that came in contact with him. Jaylen’s MINISTRY knew no bounds! 

Funeral arrangements will be handled by East Lawn Mortuary, located in Elk Grove, Ca. There will be a private family viewing. A Celebration of Life will be held later, at The Center at District 56, 8230 Civic Center Drive #100, Elk Grove, Ca 95757, on March 2, 2025 from 2 – 6pm, with a formal Celebration Service, followed by a balloon release. Food will be served at The Center.