Dexter man travels to Mich. to pay debt

DEXTER, Mo. -- For 60 years, an old unpaid debt has been bothering Bob Brown.

Now 81, the Dexter man has been haunted over the years knowing he owed $5 to a hospital in Flint, Mich., for the birth of one of his sons.

"I'd be debt-free," he's often told his sons, "if I only had that hospital bill paid."

There was a reason Brown hadn't paid that five dollars. The retired farmer, who has never been in the habit of leaving bills unpaid, lived in Michigan in the early 1950s with his expectant wife, Barbara. The baby was to be their first, and the young couple was excitedly awaiting its February arrival.

"Dad had the hospital bill paid for in advance," said Dennis Brown, one of the Brown siblings. "But the bill was paid for the birth of one baby."

Anxious parents-to-be were without the advantage of sonograms and ultrasounds in the 1950s, and so it came as a surprise when Barbara Brown gave birth Feb. 23 to identical twin boys, Larry and Gary Brown.

"Dad didn't plan on two, so he didn't pay for two in advance," Larry said.

And so, Bob Brown began to pay out the hospital bill month by month. When the family decided to move to Missouri in 1951, there was only $5 left on the bill -- $5 that would haunt Bob Brown for 60 years.

At a recent 60th birthday celebration for the twins, their father was heard to lament about the debt once again.

"I went home that night and decided it was time to take dad on a road trip," Larry said. "So, the next day I called him and told him to pack a bag; we were headed for Flint, Mich., to pay that debt once and for all, and he'd finally be debt free."

The trip was set, and as brother after brother heard of the plan, each signed up to go along. Now the question was how to fit the entourage to Flint in one vehicle. The answer was simple. They leased a 15-passenger cargo van for the trip.

And so on a cool March day, the Browns -- father, four sons and a cousin -- began their trek northward to relieve the senior family member of his long-owed debt.

A funny thing happened, though, on the way to Flint.

"We're blaming it on the GPS system in the van," Larry said. "We got a little sidetracked and ended up crossing the Canadian border."

The six-man team enjoyed the Canadian atmosphere so well, they went for a cheeseburger. Along the drive, however, they saw in the distance the neon lights of Caesars Palace -- and the rest of the night was history.

In the morning, the men set out to cross the border back into their homeland and learned it's much easier getting into Canada than it is getting out. None had passports, and even though that didn't seem to present a problem upon entrance to the country, it was a problem now.

"We told them our whole story," Larry said, "and I'm sure they thought we were all crazy, but eventually they let us back over the border."

Once back on U.S. soil, the men navigated their way to Flint and headed to Hurley Hospital, where the Brown twins, one paid for in full and one for whom $5 remained owed, entered the world 60 years ago.

Little did the family know that as they traveled, a granddaughter, hearing of the adventure, had made a call to Hurley Hospital and warned them of what was about to happen. And so, when the cargo van pulled up to the hospital entrance, the weary travelers were not only greeted with valet parking, but with an entourage of hospital staff, eager to take their long-awaited $5.

"We didn't want a big deal made of it," Larry said, "but they gave us a royal welcome, took the money, wrote a receipt and sent us on our way."

The content caravan belted themselves in once again for the trip back to Dexter, perhaps a little worse for the wear, but satisfied in knowing that never again will Bob Brown utter the words, "Boys, I'd be debt free, if only ..."