Thomas Edward Brown

Thomas Edward Brown Thomas Edward Brown died at home on December 23, 2012. He was 68. He was born in Mitchell, South Dakota, to Forrest Edward and Alvina (Aisenbrey) Brown on December 10, 1944. He was baptized at the Scotland Methodist Church in 1945. Thomas grew up on a farm outside Scotland, South Dakota. His father died when he was 12, and he was raised by his mother and grandmother. He graduated from Scotland High School in 1962. Years later, he attended classes at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia. Immediately following his high school graduation, Thomas enlisted in the Air Force. He served eight years, from 1962 to 1970. He worked as an aircraft mechanic supervisor and, since he was assigned to specific planes and crews, he traveled all over the world. He served in Spain, Vietnam, and at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Tom’s service instilled a life-long love of airplanes. He enjoyed the local museums and displays and, when he heard a plane flying over, especially the old ones destined for air shows, he would run outside to check it out. He could identify most of them just by the sound of the engine and could recite each plane’s history. He received an honorable discharge in 1970, along with a letter from Richard Nixon thanking him for his service to country. After two years as a trucker hauling doors and produce from Centralia to the East Coast, he was hired as a heavy haul operator at Centralia Mining Company. He worked there from 1972 until the mine closed in 2006. He drove monster trucks and heavy equipment and also spent a couple years on the drill crew. In 2006, he took a training course and went back to trucking. He was immediately hired by Sherman Brothers Trucking in Harrisburg, Oregon. He worked there until 2010 when he moved to Gardner Trucking, which was headquartered in Chino, California, but had a terminal in Maytown, just five miles from home. Thomas was a very hard worker. His first and greatest responsibility was always to family. His second was to a good cup of coffee and a BS session with friends or family. His work experiences and travels gave him lots of material, and Tom was a great storyteller. Everyone who knew him undoubtedly has a favorite or two (remember the apple one?). When he worked at the mine, he also wrote poetry. Some of his poems were serious reflections of life and some were not so reverent. Thomas loved to read and continued to travel throughout his life through the pages of many, many books. He also loved playing games on “mandatory family fun” nights, and still holds an unbeatable record for Wii 100-pin bowling. Thomas married Judy Wood in 1968 and they lived in Rochester, Washington. Tom and Judy were divorced in 1986 and Judy passed away in 2005. Judy had four children from a previous marriage and she and Tom had a daughter, Tamra Lynn, in 1969. Tamra lives in Lomita, California, with her daughter, Mila Rose, 8. He married Carol Seitz Koetje in Olympia on October 16, 1992. He willingly gave up hunting season that once, except for a couple elk scouting trips with new brother-in-law Keith Matheny during a brief stop in eastern Washington during the honeymoon. After that, he and Carol celebrated anniversaries in January so as not to interfere with hunting season (he only had to forfeit one day of duck hunting). He and Carol have lived on their two-acre sanctuary outside Tenino, Washington, for 20 years with Carol’s daughter, Amy Elizabeth Koetje, and granddaughter Jannah Rose Koetje, age 11. Tom loved to spend time puttering in his “man cave” ~ the shop. Thomas has a brother, Richard (Dick) Brown (wife Shari) in Las Vegas. His parents and two other brothers, Dennis and David, preceded him in death. He is also survived by in-laws Delbert Hallam of Evans, Washington; Meredith Huff of Olympia; June Seitz of Westland, Michigan; Sadatoshi and Susan Tomizawa of Muncie, Indiana; Louise Martin of Clarkston, Washington; Tom Matheny of Aberdeen, Washington; and Mace and Aller Matheny of Starbuck, Washington. Please leave memories of Thomas or condolences for the family in the Guestbook below.