Ray Lee Brown

Ray Lee Brown

Ray Lee Brown, a longtime resident of Snohomish, WA passed away peacefully on March 13, 2011 surrounded by his family. Heaven will never be the same after Ray has joined his hunting buddies.
Ray was born in Twin Falls, ID in 1929 to Claude and Mazie Brown. It was there that Ray met and married his wife of over 61 years, Jeanette. Out of high school Ray started working for the Hunter Produce Company, delivering produce to the Magic Valley area in Twin Falls. Ray and Jeanette moved to Kelso, WA in 1951 where Ray worked for the Weyerhaeuser Kraft Pulp mill. In 1953 Ray and Jeanette relocated to Snohomish; there he helped start the Everett Weyerhaeuser Kraft Pulp mill. In 1956 Ray and Jeanette made their final move to the beloved "Brown's Hotel" in the Swans Trail neighborhood of Snohomish. Ray was a wonderful father to all the neighborhood kids who would gather nightly in the shop to discuss the trials of the day. Ray would listen and offer advice but never judge. Ray was a great friend to all.
Ray was an active 4H leader for the Swans Trail 4H club in Beef and Motorcycle. Ray was active in the community as a commissioner for the Swans Trail Water District. He was also a fire commissioner for Snohomish Fire District 4 from 1968-2003. Ray took a lot of pride in his fire district work. He worked tirelessly to provide the necessary education, equipment and facilities that the fire district needed to provide service to the residents. Ray retired from Fog-Tite Meter Seal in 1995 to begin his second career as a consultant to his son Brian's farming operation; a thankless position with no pay and benefits. But Ray was always knee deep in whatever project was ongoing. Ray loved fishing and hunting. He would spend hours helping prepare for the humpy salmon season and countless hours fishing next to his friends and family. Never caring whether he caught a fish or not, but always having the net ready to land the big catch. Ray was a devoted husband, father and grandfather.
Ray is survived by his loving wife, Jeanette; sister, Gladwin Theener of Twin Falls, ID; son, Dwaine (Chris) of Seguin, TX; daughter, Kathrain Brown of Snohomish; son, Brian (Nancy) of Snohomish; grandchildren, Cori and John Brown, Aidan (Eric) Diaz and Xiang Min Li; great-grandson, Adam Diaz; and numerous nieces and nephews.
The family would like to thank the fifth-floor nursing staff at Providence Hospital for all their compassion and caring along with Dr. Emily Huang and the Puget Sound Kidney Center.
A celebration of Ray's life will be on Saturday, March 19, 2011 at 1 p.m. at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 5511 64th St. SE, Snohomish, WA 98290.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the Puget Sound Kidney Center, the Autism Society at www.autismspeaks.org or Snohomish Fire District 4.