Homer Brown

Homer V. Brown, 97, of Missoula, passed away at Hunter's Glen Retirement Home on Monday, Dec. 9, 2013, of natural causes. He was born Jan. 2, 1916, in the Bitterroot Valley, the son of Walter and Etna (Shaffer) Brown. He was the sixth of 13 children.

Homer attended schools at Lone Rock, Three Mile and in the Deer Lodge Valley. He entered the Army Air Corps 1942, proudly serving in the European Theater based in Italy as a waist gunner on a B-17 bomber. Sgt. Brown flew 50 combat missions over North Africa, Italy, France, Austria, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Germany, from 1943 through the end of the war. He was honorably discharged in 1946. His decorations included the Presidential Unit Blue Ribbon Citation and the European Theater with two Bronze Stars.

Following World War II, he returned home and resumed life in the Bitterroot. He married Hazel (McCune) Brown on May 18, 1946. Together they raised four children. They later divorced.

Before and after the war, Homer worked throughout western Montana as a farmer, rancher, cowboy and lumberjack. He began working at the Northern Rockies Forest Fire Laboratory in 1966, retiring in 1982. On Nov. 20, 1971, he married Nora Holden and they resided in Missoula. Following his retirement, Nora and Homer traveled extensively in Montana and throughout the country. They loved camping, gathering firewood and the outdoors immensely.

Homer was an avid outdoorsman his entire life, enjoying hunting, fishing and later hiking the mountains into his late 80s. He marked many miles walking in a day in and around Missoula up until the last year of his life. He loved working in his yard and vegetable garden for many years. His and Nora's rose garden received special care. A very quiet man, he was known as a good and solid friend by those close to him, and was always there with a ready smile and a twinkle in his eye. While not much of a talker or joke teller, his was a wit with dry humor and a good "one-liner."

Homer was preceded in death by his parents, Walter and Etna; his loving wife, Nora Lorraine; four sisters and four brothers, Lucy, Thelma, Earl, Ada, Faye, Ray, Riley and Bill; and his stepson, Bob Holden. He is survived by sisters, Pearl Dielman, Nellie Stokes and Doris Matz; brother, Jim Brown; stepdaughters, Janet Brown and Nancy Johnson; son, David (Anita) of Green Acres, Fla.; daughter, Marilyn Thornley of Lincoln; stepsons, Dave (Kathy) and Steve (Diane) Holden; daughter-in-law, Kathleen Holden of Missoula; stepdaughter, Peggy Erickson of Salem, Ore.; as well as numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated Thursday, Dec. 12, at St. Anthony Parish in Missoula at 11 a.m. A luncheon will follow the services. Private family interment will follow at St. Mary Cemetery. The family recommends that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, woundedwarriorproject.org.

Homer's entire family wishes to thank the staff and management of Hunter's Glen of Missoula, Dr. Kevin Sheehan and nursing staff, Hospice of Missoula and Case Management caregivers for their constant and loving care in the last years of his life

Read Homer Brown's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.