Robert Edward "Bob" Brown
1918 - 2008
VETERAN
Holding hands with the love of his life and surrounded by his children and grandchildren, Robert E "Bob" Brown slipped away peacefully on Jan. 11, 2008. He died of natural causes at Community Medical Center.
Robert Edward Brown, a career Marine officer and former Missoula mayor, was born on Oct. 7, 1918, to Charles Hughes and Ruth Heim Brown in Towanda, Penn. A child of the Depression, Bob worked his way through Syracuse University in upstate New York, at times babysitting, doing janitorial work, running a lunch counter, and waiting tables at a posh restaurant "on the hill." During summers, he worked at the bridge works in Elmira Heights, N.Y. In 1940, Bob received his bachelor's degree in political science.
A love affair spanning seven decades began in 1936 when Bob met Cidney Munn, a Helena girl visiting relatives in Elmira Heights. From then on, whenever Bob could steal time, he would hitchhike cross-country to Helena where Cidney ran a successful dance school.
In 1941, after a year of graduate school, Bob left Syracuse to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. With a few months free before attending Officers Candidate School in Quantico, Va., Bob once again went West and found a seasonal job with the U.S. Forest Service. He left Helena as a Montana resident.
The romance between Bob and Cidney continued to blossom despite the obstacle of distance. After kamikazes sank Bob's aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, he spent two hours in the open ocean before being rescued by a destroyer. Reassigned to the USS Bunker Hill as commanding officer of its Marine detachment, he awaited the new carrier's commissioning in Boston. Cidney joined him there and they married on June 20, 1943. Throughout World War II, Cidney joined Bob every time the Bunker came in for repairs in Bremerton, Wash.
After the war, Bob and Cidney settled into Marine Corps life, bouncing between his duty stations on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, with one short stretch in Oberlin, Ohio, where Bob helped close out the V-2 Navy college program. Their first daughter, Carol Cidney, was born in Oberlin in 1946, and a second daughter, Robin Claire, arrived in 1949 while Bob was stationed in Newark, N.J.
When the Korean conflict began, Cid and their children moved to Helena and Bob left for Chodo, an island off the coast of North Korea. There he commanded two South Korean battalions.
In 1961-62, Lt. Col. Brown headed the Marine contingent of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in South Vietnam. He grew to love the people and the landscape of Vietnam.
Bob retired from the Marine Corps in 1964 and moved home to Montana, choosing Missoula because the University of Montana was located here. From 1965 to 1972, he sold mutual funds for Investors Diversified Services, easily admitting that he "didn't earn much but made a lot of friends." He embraced Missoula as an active member of the Masons, Shriners, Missoula Kiwanis Club, Western Montana Military Officers Association, Missoula Republican Club, and First Presbyterian Church. Bob was a 50-year member of Masonic Lodge 13 and the Shriners.
He served as a Ward Four alderman from 1971 to 1973. When Mayor George Turman resigned, the council appointed Bob to succeed him. Bob resigned from IDS and was duly elected mayor, serving one term from 1973 to 1977. During his tenure as mayor, Bob supported Missoula's bikeway system and oversaw details to establish the Missoula Art Museum in the old Carnegie Library.
Following Bob's third retirement, Bob and Cidney spent four months traveling in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. More trips followed.
A Phi Beta Kappa at Syracuse, Bob was a lifelong learner, wanting to know the whys and wherefores of every experience. A dictionary and encyclopedia set were always at hand to answer questions. The military shorthand, "RTP" (Read the Problem), was a way of life at the Brown household.
Bob was preceded in death by his brother Porteus, granddaughter Carilee Matchett, and son-in-law Phil Tawney.
Survivors include daughters Carol Matchett of Van Cleave, Miss., and Robin Tawney Nichols of Missoula, and their husbands Larry Matchett and William Nichols; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
The Missoula City Police will escort a processional to the Fort Missoula military cemetery for a Masonic ceremony and burial with full military honors.
1918 - 2008
VETERAN
Holding hands with the love of his life and surrounded by his children and grandchildren, Robert E "Bob" Brown slipped away peacefully on Jan. 11, 2008. He died of natural causes at Community Medical Center.
Robert Edward Brown, a career Marine officer and former Missoula mayor, was born on Oct. 7, 1918, to Charles Hughes and Ruth Heim Brown in Towanda, Penn. A child of the Depression, Bob worked his way through Syracuse University in upstate New York, at times babysitting, doing janitorial work, running a lunch counter, and waiting tables at a posh restaurant "on the hill." During summers, he worked at the bridge works in Elmira Heights, N.Y. In 1940, Bob received his bachelor's degree in political science.
A love affair spanning seven decades began in 1936 when Bob met Cidney Munn, a Helena girl visiting relatives in Elmira Heights. From then on, whenever Bob could steal time, he would hitchhike cross-country to Helena where Cidney ran a successful dance school.
In 1941, after a year of graduate school, Bob left Syracuse to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. With a few months free before attending Officers Candidate School in Quantico, Va., Bob once again went West and found a seasonal job with the U.S. Forest Service. He left Helena as a Montana resident.
The romance between Bob and Cidney continued to blossom despite the obstacle of distance. After kamikazes sank Bob's aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, he spent two hours in the open ocean before being rescued by a destroyer. Reassigned to the USS Bunker Hill as commanding officer of its Marine detachment, he awaited the new carrier's commissioning in Boston. Cidney joined him there and they married on June 20, 1943. Throughout World War II, Cidney joined Bob every time the Bunker came in for repairs in Bremerton, Wash.
After the war, Bob and Cidney settled into Marine Corps life, bouncing between his duty stations on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, with one short stretch in Oberlin, Ohio, where Bob helped close out the V-2 Navy college program. Their first daughter, Carol Cidney, was born in Oberlin in 1946, and a second daughter, Robin Claire, arrived in 1949 while Bob was stationed in Newark, N.J.
When the Korean conflict began, Cid and their children moved to Helena and Bob left for Chodo, an island off the coast of North Korea. There he commanded two South Korean battalions.
In 1961-62, Lt. Col. Brown headed the Marine contingent of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in South Vietnam. He grew to love the people and the landscape of Vietnam.
Bob retired from the Marine Corps in 1964 and moved home to Montana, choosing Missoula because the University of Montana was located here. From 1965 to 1972, he sold mutual funds for Investors Diversified Services, easily admitting that he "didn't earn much but made a lot of friends." He embraced Missoula as an active member of the Masons, Shriners, Missoula Kiwanis Club, Western Montana Military Officers Association, Missoula Republican Club, and First Presbyterian Church. Bob was a 50-year member of Masonic Lodge 13 and the Shriners.
He served as a Ward Four alderman from 1971 to 1973. When Mayor George Turman resigned, the council appointed Bob to succeed him. Bob resigned from IDS and was duly elected mayor, serving one term from 1973 to 1977. During his tenure as mayor, Bob supported Missoula's bikeway system and oversaw details to establish the Missoula Art Museum in the old Carnegie Library.
Following Bob's third retirement, Bob and Cidney spent four months traveling in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. More trips followed.
A Phi Beta Kappa at Syracuse, Bob was a lifelong learner, wanting to know the whys and wherefores of every experience. A dictionary and encyclopedia set were always at hand to answer questions. The military shorthand, "RTP" (Read the Problem), was a way of life at the Brown household.
Bob was preceded in death by his brother Porteus, granddaughter Carilee Matchett, and son-in-law Phil Tawney.
Survivors include daughters Carol Matchett of Van Cleave, Miss., and Robin Tawney Nichols of Missoula, and their husbands Larry Matchett and William Nichols; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
The Missoula City Police will escort a processional to the Fort Missoula military cemetery for a Masonic ceremony and burial with full military honors.
Robert Edward "Bob" Brown
1918 - 2008
VETERAN
Holding hands with the love of his life and surrounded by his children and grandchildren, Robert E "Bob" Brown slipped away peacefully on Jan. 11, 2008. He died of natural causes at Community Medical Center.
Robert Edward Brown, a career Marine officer and former Missoula mayor, was born on Oct. 7, 1918, to Charles Hughes and Ruth Heim Brown in Towanda, Penn. A child of the Depression, Bob worked his way through Syracuse University in upstate New York, at times babysitting, doing janitorial work, running a lunch counter, and waiting tables at a posh restaurant "on the hill." During summers, he worked at the bridge works in Elmira Heights, N.Y. In 1940, Bob received his bachelor's degree in political science.
A love affair spanning seven decades began in 1936 when Bob met Cidney Munn, a Helena girl visiting relatives in Elmira Heights. From then on, whenever Bob could steal time, he would hitchhike cross-country to Helena where Cidney ran a successful dance school.
In 1941, after a year of graduate school, Bob left Syracuse to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. With a few months free before attending Officers Candidate School in Quantico, Va., Bob once again went West and found a seasonal job with the U.S. Forest Service. He left Helena as a Montana resident.
The romance between Bob and Cidney continued to blossom despite the obstacle of distance. After kamikazes sank Bob's aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, he spent two hours in the open ocean before being rescued by a destroyer. Reassigned to the USS Bunker Hill as commanding officer of its Marine detachment, he awaited the new carrier's commissioning in Boston. Cidney joined him there and they married on June 20, 1943. Throughout World War II, Cidney joined Bob every time the Bunker came in for repairs in Bremerton, Wash.
After the war, Bob and Cidney settled into Marine Corps life, bouncing between his duty stations on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, with one short stretch in Oberlin, Ohio, where Bob helped close out the V-2 Navy college program. Their first daughter, Carol Cidney, was born in Oberlin in 1946, and a second daughter, Robin Claire, arrived in 1949 while Bob was stationed in Newark, N.J.
When the Korean conflict began, Cid and their children moved to Helena and Bob left for Chodo, an island off the coast of North Korea. There he commanded two South Korean battalions.
In 1961-62, Lt. Col. Brown headed the Marine contingent of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in South Vietnam. He grew to love the people and the landscape of Vietnam.
Bob retired from the Marine Corps in 1964 and moved home to Montana, choosing Missoula because the University of Montana was located here. From 1965 to 1972, he sold mutual funds for Investors Diversified Services, easily admitting that he "didn't earn much but made a lot of friends." He embraced Missoula as an active member of the Masons, Shriners, Missoula Kiwanis Club, Western Montana Military Officers Association, Missoula Republican Club, and First Presbyterian Church. Bob was a 50-year member of Masonic Lodge 13 and the Shriners.
He served as a Ward Four alderman from 1971 to 1973. When Mayor George Turman resigned, the council appointed Bob to succeed him. Bob resigned from IDS and was duly elected mayor, serving one term from 1973 to 1977. During his tenure as mayor, Bob supported Missoula's bikeway system and oversaw details to establish the Missoula Art Museum in the old Carnegie Library.
Following Bob's third retirement, Bob and Cidney spent four months traveling in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. More trips followed.
A Phi Beta Kappa at Syracuse, Bob was a lifelong learner, wanting to know the whys and wherefores of every experience. A dictionary and encyclopedia set were always at hand to answer questions. The military shorthand, "RTP" (Read the Problem), was a way of life at the Brown household.
Bob was preceded in death by his brother Porteus, granddaughter Carilee Matchett, and son-in-law Phil Tawney.
Survivors include daughters Carol Matchett of Van Cleave, Miss., and Robin Tawney Nichols of Missoula, and their husbands Larry Matchett and William Nichols; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
The Missoula City Police will escort a processional to the Fort Missoula military cemetery for a Masonic ceremony and burial with full military honors.
1918 - 2008
VETERAN
Holding hands with the love of his life and surrounded by his children and grandchildren, Robert E "Bob" Brown slipped away peacefully on Jan. 11, 2008. He died of natural causes at Community Medical Center.
Robert Edward Brown, a career Marine officer and former Missoula mayor, was born on Oct. 7, 1918, to Charles Hughes and Ruth Heim Brown in Towanda, Penn. A child of the Depression, Bob worked his way through Syracuse University in upstate New York, at times babysitting, doing janitorial work, running a lunch counter, and waiting tables at a posh restaurant "on the hill." During summers, he worked at the bridge works in Elmira Heights, N.Y. In 1940, Bob received his bachelor's degree in political science.
A love affair spanning seven decades began in 1936 when Bob met Cidney Munn, a Helena girl visiting relatives in Elmira Heights. From then on, whenever Bob could steal time, he would hitchhike cross-country to Helena where Cidney ran a successful dance school.
In 1941, after a year of graduate school, Bob left Syracuse to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. With a few months free before attending Officers Candidate School in Quantico, Va., Bob once again went West and found a seasonal job with the U.S. Forest Service. He left Helena as a Montana resident.
The romance between Bob and Cidney continued to blossom despite the obstacle of distance. After kamikazes sank Bob's aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, he spent two hours in the open ocean before being rescued by a destroyer. Reassigned to the USS Bunker Hill as commanding officer of its Marine detachment, he awaited the new carrier's commissioning in Boston. Cidney joined him there and they married on June 20, 1943. Throughout World War II, Cidney joined Bob every time the Bunker came in for repairs in Bremerton, Wash.
After the war, Bob and Cidney settled into Marine Corps life, bouncing between his duty stations on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, with one short stretch in Oberlin, Ohio, where Bob helped close out the V-2 Navy college program. Their first daughter, Carol Cidney, was born in Oberlin in 1946, and a second daughter, Robin Claire, arrived in 1949 while Bob was stationed in Newark, N.J.
When the Korean conflict began, Cid and their children moved to Helena and Bob left for Chodo, an island off the coast of North Korea. There he commanded two South Korean battalions.
In 1961-62, Lt. Col. Brown headed the Marine contingent of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in South Vietnam. He grew to love the people and the landscape of Vietnam.
Bob retired from the Marine Corps in 1964 and moved home to Montana, choosing Missoula because the University of Montana was located here. From 1965 to 1972, he sold mutual funds for Investors Diversified Services, easily admitting that he "didn't earn much but made a lot of friends." He embraced Missoula as an active member of the Masons, Shriners, Missoula Kiwanis Club, Western Montana Military Officers Association, Missoula Republican Club, and First Presbyterian Church. Bob was a 50-year member of Masonic Lodge 13 and the Shriners.
He served as a Ward Four alderman from 1971 to 1973. When Mayor George Turman resigned, the council appointed Bob to succeed him. Bob resigned from IDS and was duly elected mayor, serving one term from 1973 to 1977. During his tenure as mayor, Bob supported Missoula's bikeway system and oversaw details to establish the Missoula Art Museum in the old Carnegie Library.
Following Bob's third retirement, Bob and Cidney spent four months traveling in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. More trips followed.
A Phi Beta Kappa at Syracuse, Bob was a lifelong learner, wanting to know the whys and wherefores of every experience. A dictionary and encyclopedia set were always at hand to answer questions. The military shorthand, "RTP" (Read the Problem), was a way of life at the Brown household.
Bob was preceded in death by his brother Porteus, granddaughter Carilee Matchett, and son-in-law Phil Tawney.
Survivors include daughters Carol Matchett of Van Cleave, Miss., and Robin Tawney Nichols of Missoula, and their husbands Larry Matchett and William Nichols; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
The Missoula City Police will escort a processional to the Fort Missoula military cemetery for a Masonic ceremony and burial with full military honors.
Inscription
LT COL
US MARINE CORPS
WORLD WAR II
KOREA
VIETNAM
