Wayne Byron Brown Dies; Longtime Resident was 84

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Category: Obituaries

Created on Friday, 24 January 2025 15:27

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Wayne Byron Brown holds his 79-pound king salmon. (Photo provided)

Wayne Byron Brown, a Sitka resident since 1979, died January 20, at the age of 84.
He was born Nov. 24, 1940, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Lillian Bauman and William Byron Brown. He graduated from Frankfort High School in Philadelphia, then served in the U.S. Army in Germany from 1965 to 1968.
After working as a mechanical engineer in Colorado for a time, he loaded up his Siberian husky and drove the Alcan highway to Fairbanks. He hadn’t been there long when he met and on May 22, 1969, married Vicki Barr.
They lived in North Pole for 10 years while Wayne, a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers,  worked as a heavy duty mechanic on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline for 10 years. In 1979 they came to Sitka, where Wayne worked as a charter boat captain and as a heavy duty mechanic.
Among his favorite pastimes were fishing and hunting. He once caught a 79-pound king salmon, the day before the Sitka Salmon Derby began; and he made the last legal kill of a polar bear before a moratorium went into effect in 1972. He donated the meat to the local Indigenous people.
Wayne was a life member of the Sitka Sportsman’s Association, and also belonged to the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and National Rifle Association.
Wayne was preceded in death by his parents, William and Lilian Brown, and stepmother Jean Brown.
He’s survived by Vicki Brown, his wife of more than 55 years; daughters Rachael Stark (Kip) and Rebecca Brown of Juneau; granddaughters Tia Brown of Sitka and Kelsey Stark of Oregon; brother Dave Brown of Salem, Missouri; great-granddaughters Ava Lang and Leighton Smith, both of Sitka; great-grandson Raiden Smith of Sitka; and honorary grandson Ronnie Lindberg, Sitka.

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