Rodney Allison Brown

Rodney Allison Brown was born on January 19, 1925 in Puyallup, the seventh of the eight children of Arthur Colburn and Myrtle Leah Brown. A child of the Great Depression, Dr. Brown always wanted to be a physician but feared this dream would not come true until the G.I. Bill guaranteed college tuition for veterans returning from duty during World War II. A graduate of Stadium High School in Tacoma, Dr. Brown spent the war in the Pacific as a United States Army Combat Medic and Surgical Technician and was among the first to hit the beach in the battle for Iwo Jima. He attended the University of Puget Sound and the University of Washington Medical School. In 1950 Dr. Brown married a high school friend and the love of his life, Lois Smith. The couple had four children and had been married 56 years at the time of her death in 2006.
Dr. Brown started out with a pratice in general medicine in Tacoma, then began his career as an anesthesiologist in Burlingame, California, but longed to return to the Northwest. In 1963 the family settled in Olympia. The tragic loss of his oldest child, Michael, in 1966 spurred Brown to double his efforts to improve emergency medical care in Thurston County. He was already teaching CPR to anyone willing to learn when, in 1973, he wrote the curriculum and tests for one of Washington's first Emergency Medical Technician's courses. He was a member of the committee of fire chiefs, and local government officials whose members convinced county voters to fund Medic One, which celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2009. Dr. Brown trained Medic One's first twelve paramedics and served as the organization's medical director for ten years. He also organized the St. Peter Hospital School of Nurse Anesthetists, helped plan the hospital's coronary care unit and was instrumental in raising money to build the new hospital. Dr. Brown's leadership and tireless devotion saved countless lives. All this he did while handling a heavy anesthesia practice at St. Peter Hospital. When new friends would ask him what kind of doctor he was, his answer was "a good one". He was that and more.
After retiring from the active medical practice, Rodney and Lois Brown moved to downtown Seattle and regularly attended the symphony, opera and ballet. Both were talented musicians and he took up the cello he loved but hadn't had the time to play since high school. Old cars, specifically Rolls Royces, were his other joy and he restored and drove them with relish. Allergic to idleness, Brown also worked for seventeen years as an associate medial director with Premera Blue Cross, retiring from that position last summer at age 82.
Dr. Brown is survived by his three daughters, Jennifer Brown-Ostler, of Snohomish;, Madelyn Brown, of Bothell; and Claudia Brown of Portland, Oregon; brother, Elliott Brown, of Olympia; son-in-law, David Ostler; and four adoring grandchildren, Adam, Courtney, Madelyn and Michael. He also leaves behind his dear friend Lev Drachenco, who watched over him with love and whom Brown considered a son.
Rodney Allison Brown, M.D. was an extraordinary and brilliant man; kind and generous, talented, disciplined and hardworking. He was loved and admired by countless friends, coworkers and relatives, many of whom considered him another father. He was a loving husband, the best Dad and "Papa" imaginable and we miss him.
Remembrances can be sent to the Brown and Fell Scholarship Award, c/o Thurston County Medic One, 2703 Pacific Ave. SE, suite C, Olympia, WA 98501.