The Lion’s Friend Sleeps Tonight

Photo - Bill Brownby John Weckerle

The memorial service for Bill Brown took place at the Wildlife West Nature Park Bean Barn.  Friends, acquaintances, fellow volunteers, and others joined Bill’s family to celebrate the life of Edgewood’s mountain lion man (seen here with his friend in this photo provided by Judy Hudgins).  In attendance were a broad spectrum of area residents: former Edgewood Town Council members Chuck Ring and Frank Lasky; former Edgewood mayor Howard Calkins; and current Edgewood Town Council member Rita Loy Simmons, just to name a few.  The service was officiated by Roger Alink, founder and director of the park and long-time friend of Bill’s.  On hand were many of Bill’s friends and those who held him dear, several of whom shared anecdotes about their experiences with Bill during his years as a volunteer and president of the Park’s Board of Directors.

Bill Brown graduated from Michigan Technological University  with a degree in mathematics and joined NASA’s Apollo Mission team, working on guidance systems and participating in the effort that brought astronauts to the Moon for the first time. He married his wife, Claudia, in 1966, and they remained married until her passing in 1999.  After about three years, Bill had the opportunity to realize a lifelong ambition – to become a firefighter. He went on to become a Senior Captain in the Friendwood, Texas fire department, and rose to the rank of Chief in the Clear Lake, Texas fire department, dedicating his life to saving the lives of others.  He and Claudia retired and moved to New Mexico and discovered Wildlife West – and its young cougars – in 1999.  Both he and Claudia volunteered at the Park.  Claudia passed in 1999, and her ashes were scattered in the Park’s Mexican Wolf pen.  Bill continued to volunteer after Claudia’s death, visiting the cougars essentially on a daily basis and forming a unique bond of friendship with Moonshadow and Phantom.  He gave his life to the Park, contributing to the Park financially and working both as a volunteer and Board president right up to the day of his passing.

According to Roger, Bill lived longer than he expected (he envisioned an early passage due to long years of smoke inhalation as well as an enjoyment of tobacco and red meat), and lived well.  He worked in the profession of his dreams and, after retirement, found yet another great love – this time, of the Park, its animals, and the people who worked with him.

Bill’s ashes were scattered this evening in the pen where his old friend Moonshadow, one of the Park’s two mountain lions, lives – not all that far from the wolf pen where the ashes of his wife of 33 years  now rest.  Their animal friends live on.  We can wonder, as we always do at such times, about what comes after death where the spirit is concerned.   The molecules, atoms, subatomic particles, and so on that they left behind – the stuff of stars, here since the very beginning of the universe – have paused now at the Park for a bit before continuing on their journey through time.   Perhaps, even though we cannot see them, Bill and Claudia tarry there as well, lingering together and waiting for the day when they can bring their charges safely home.

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