Ernest William Brown
Burial Details
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 3D - March 4, 2012
Ernest William Brown,
90, Grand Junction, died March
1, 2012, in Grand Junction.
Services will be at 10 a.m.
Wednesday at Veterans Memorial
Cemetery of Western Colorado.
Mr. Brown was a carpenter.
Survivors include two sons,
F. Bill of Marshfield, Mo., and
Harry of Grand Junction; one
daughter, Donna Lou Chapel
of Highlands Ranch; two sisters,
Jean McIntyre of Lancaster,
Calif., and Fran Mlakar
of Anchorage, Alaska; three
grandchildren; and three greatgrandchildren.
Memorial contributions to
Hospice & Palliative Care of
Western Colorado, 3090B North
12th St., Grand Junction 81506,
or to the Roice-Hurst Humane
Society, P.O. Box 4040, Grand
Junction 81504.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 5A - March 6, 2012
Ernie Brown peacefully passed
away on Leap Day in the same
red brick house he built 56 years
before.
There, on Texas Avenue, he and
his beloved wife, Lou, raised a
daughter, Donna Lou Chapel
(Rick) of Highlands Ranch; and
two sons, E. Bill Brown (Chris) of Marshfield, MO and Harry C.
Brown (Carolyn) of Grand Junction. Ernie leaves behind two sisters,
Jean McIntyre of Lancaster, CA, and Fran Mlakar of Anchorage,
AK; two grandchildren, Koli Brook Chapel of Denver and Bryan W.
Brown (Melanie) of Marshfield; three great-granddaughters, Avery,
Lacey, and Chelsey (Bryan’s). Lou and his grandson, Kuper Brannon
Chapel, preceded him in death.
Ernie grew up in Paonia, one of eight children born to Arthur and
Hannah Brown. His parents immigrated around the turn of the century
from Cornwall, England, and Wales, respectively, a fact of
which he was extremely proud. At a young age, he helped his dad in
the coal mines around Somerset and later, Oak Creek, CO. He
joined the U.S. Navy in 1943, and spent WWII as a gunner’s mate
on the USS Twining, circumnavigating the globe. He saw heavy action
in the Burma Theatre and off the coast of Sicily. Stories from
these two years would be recaptured and told many times across the
remainder of his life.
His first years in Grand Junction, 1947 to 1949, were spent working
on the new Veteran’s Administration Hospital. In his latter
years, when he was a patient there, he would often be heard telling
VA staff that he had “hung every door in the hospital,” which he
had. Later, he became a union carpenter and small contractor, having
built five houses in the same neighborhood where he resided. He
was a craftsman of the highest order and fashioned many family
heirlooms - from lamps and trivets to a complete bedroom set - in
his basement shop during retirement. He once crafted an urn for a
friend and, upon completion, cracked that he should start a business,
“Urns by Ern.”
He was also an artful fly fisherman, though he didn’t much care
whether a trout took his homespun fly or the night crawler he dug
from his sister-in-law’s backyard in Glenwood Springs. He and Lou
also enjoyed arrowhead hunting, square dancing, and gardening.
Their tomatoes were famous in the neighborhood and found their
way into many crispers of both family and friends. Ernie also spent
much of his free time coaching his sons and their Little League
teammates on the finer points of throwing a curveball or turning a
double-play.
Though small in stature, Ernie had the heart of a lion and the biceps
to back it up. He was a natural comedian and liked nothing
more than cracking a joke and then letting rip with his infectious
laugh. He will be greatly missed.
A service honoring his military service will be held Wednesday,
March, 7th, at 10:00 a.m. at Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery, 2830
Riverside Parkway. In lieu of flowers, please send all donations to
Hospice & Palliative Care of Western Colorado, which took expert
care of him on and off for six and one half years.
