Ralph W. Brown

September 20, 1944 - November 17, 2024 Ralph Brown died on Sunday morning, November 17, after a three-year battle with Agent Orange-related cancer. He left this world with the same quiet courage with which he had faced all the challenges of his life. He was 80 years old. On his eighteenth birthday, he left the home of parents Ralph and Genevieve Brown in Manhasset, New York, to enlist in the United States Navy. He completed Basic Training at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, where he subsequently qualified for submarines and was assigned to the SKIPJACK, SSN 585, out of Groton, Connecticut. He had served above and below the waves for two years when he received orders to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. He liked to tell the story of how he “just walked across the bridge” to join the class of 1968. He had been stationed in Boston and New Bedford, married his wife Trudy and become a dad when his ship, Coast Guard cutter YAKUTAT was ordered to Vietnam. There each of the American crew members trained his counterpart in a Vietnamese crew to serve aboard the ship. The ship was eventually turned over to the Vietnamese crew. For the rest of his life, Ralph thought with concern about the Vietnamese people he had befriended on the ship and met on lifesaving missions. Two of Ralph’s favorite assignments were in Atlantic City, New Jersey and Juneau, Alaska. His assignment as deputy group commander kept him out, night and day, in the healthy, fresh air then characteristic of South Jersey. In Mays Landing, New Jersey, Ralph started a garden and played French horn in the community orchestra. It was difficult to move the family, now with three children, away from the beaches of South Jersey to the mountains of Juneau, but they settled in, made life-long friends, and spent hours hiking the trails beside the Mendenhall Glacier. Ralph joined the Juneau Symphony Orchestra and tried his hand at community theater. Until the end of his life, he loved to recite the lines of Horage Terwilliger Buglethorpe, snake oil salesman, the part he played in a melodrama for tourists, along with other Coast Guard volunteers. All too soon, it was time to head “back to America.” Ralph and Trudy packed the family, now with four children, into a Chevy Suburban, and traveled across the country to South Portland, Maine. It was a perfect trip (well, almost), as they stopped at many sites along the way and absorbed the history and beauty of this country. After a year in Maine, Ralph resigned his commission and enrolled in the University of Maine School of Law. He practiced law in Portland for twenty years. His retirement job was at Lowe’s in Portland, where he particularly enjoyed working in Outdoor Lawn and Garden. Finally, it was time to retire to his own garden in Portland. He spent so much time there that one of the neighborhood children referred to him as “the man who lives in the backyard.” Ralph was a member of Saint Joseph Church, our Lady of Hope Parish. He was a volunteer cantor and choir member there for over twenty years. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus. Besides music and gardening, Ralph loved model trains. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Railroad Historical and Technical Society and the National Model Railroad Association, Seacoast and Sunshine Divisions. Ralph was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. He is survived by his wife Trudy and four children: Jeremy Brown of Spokane Washington, Amy Spencer of North Yarmouth, Maine, Megan Brown of Portland, Maine, and Michael Brown and husband Mario Chez of Long Island, New York; grandchildren Austin and wife Caroline, Daniel, Mariah, Michael, Emma, Katie, and Bruin; great grandchild Riley. His brother Donald Brown and nephew Kyle Gaffney also survive him. The family would like to thank Greg Roy for his help during this difficult time. Calling hours will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. on December 12 at A.T. Hutchins Funeral Service, Brighton Avenue, Portland. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on December 13 at St. Joseph Church, Stevens Avenue, Portland. Interment at Evergreen Cemetery will follow. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland, 217 Landing Road, Westbrook, Maine 04092 from where Ralph adopted his beloved cat and constant companion, Joey. https://arlgp.org/make-a-gift/donate/