One year ago, Sunday April 1, 2012, John Tatum Brower, a Friday Harbor resident for 20 years, passed away unexpectedly of an aortic dissection at the age of 75.
John was born in Los Angeles, Calif., Sept. 29, 1936 to Jesse Jarrett Brower and Alma Helen Hannah. John was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Jesse Jarrett Brower Jr.
John attended Los Angeles City schools and received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering; working on missile defense systems for Librascope in Glendale, Calif. and Magnavox in Torrance, Calif.
On Aug. 6, 1960 John Tatum Brower married “the girl next door”, Terrilee Wyatt in Glendale, Calif. John and Terri lived in the Canoga Park/Chatsworth area of the San Fernando Valley until 1985, when the family relocated to Playa del Rey, Calif.
John was an avid sailor! For over 15 years John enjoyed racing his Ranger 26, Catalina 27, and Capri 30, all named “Terrilee” and “Terrilee 2”, in local regattas off the coast of California. John belonged to Windjammers Yacht Club and South Bay Racing Club in Marina del Rey.
John was an accomplished classical pianist playing since the age of six.
In 1993, John retired to Friday Harbor, Wash. with his wife and daughter. The transition from city life to a more subdued country life seemed to come naturally. The three-piece suit retired and donated to the local theater…, John put on his “John Deere” cap and plaid shirt and became “Farmer John”.
John was delighted to finally be able to spend time with his youngest daughter and share her passion for horses, as well as taking up fishing as a more serious hobby. He could often be seen fishing in his small boat or fishing off the pier at Egg Lake.
John is deeply loved by all his family, always and forever. We miss his (occasionally inappropriate) sense of humor, his loving encouragement to family and dear friends; always with a kind word. John was the nucleus of his family!
His patience and loyalty to family was the cohesiveness that bound us all together.
John is survived by Terrilee Brower, his wife and companion for 57 years, and children: Thomas Brower and daughter-in-law Catherine Castagna Brower, San Pedro, Calif., Teresa Brower Neale, Vancouver, Wash., son-in-law Simon, Seattle, Wash., and Tamara Brower Greene and son-in-law Mike Greene of Friday Harbor, Wash.; five grandchildren: Keith Neale, Scott Brower, Christopher Brower, Hannah Greene and Aidan Greene.
A special thanks to our longtime extended family who have played a significant roll in the Brower family: Bob and Michelle Lincoln, San Clemente, Calif., Don and Patti Pickering, Superior, Mont., John and Eve Burton, Friday Harbor/Winthrop, Wash.
— Family of John Brower
