John Nelson Brown

John “Johnny” Nelson Brown was born on January 25, 1943 – Robert Burns’ Day – in the Maryhill District of Glasgow, Scotland. He was the eldest son of Nelson Alexander Brown, a Canadian soldier, and Chrystine Helena Brown (née Paterson). He died at 9:53 p.m. on June 12, 2026, in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, surrounded by his wife Vicki, daughter Laura, and son Jack. His passing came after a lengthy decline after a long and vigorous life. He died of natural causes.

John is survived by his loving wife of 53 years, Vicki (née Simpson), his daughter Laura (Cheryl), son Jack (Rebekah), and grandchildren Malcolm (age 3) and Philippa (age 6 weeks). John was the eldest of four boys (Hugh, Sandy, Newt) who have survived him, along with brother-in-law Deryl, and many far-flung nieces, nephews, and cousins. His only sister, Mary Jane, predeceased him by 74 years. A brother, Daniel, died in infancy. He carried their memory with him until the end.

One of John’s earliest memories while still just a child in Scotland was coming across an odd man dressed as an Englishman while out playing one day in the forest. This man asked him if he’d like some barley sugar in a strange accent, so John ran home to his mother, Ella, in the village of Rosemarkie, and told her about this encounter. Ella relayed the story to the Home Guard, who dispatched a patrol to question the man and found he was a German spy. John was rewarded for his patriotism with a banana, then a rare luxury due to rationing.

He came to Canada on RMS Queen Mary’s first crossing of war brides and children, landing at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia with his mother and brother Hughie. Moving first to Sudbury, Ontario, the family eventually relocated to British Columbia when John was 9 years old. The family stayed for a short while in Harrison Hot Springs, before moving to the Mission area and living in Hatzic, on Richards Road, and in Dewdney. John would live in and around the Mission area continuously until 2010. He never returned to Ontario or parts East, save for one trip in 2019 to see his son Jack called to the bar of Upper Canada.

John grew up on the mighty Fraser River. His father, Nelson, and Doug Catherwood, began working together in the forestry and towing business that was the lifeblood of the upper Fraser Valley. That partnership would bring together the two families in friendship that would last three quarters of a century and continues today. One of John’s oldest friends, Ernie, survives him.

At 18, John began the grand adventure that would define the rest of his working life: fishing for salmon with a gillnet. His first boat was a leaky mess bought for $400, allowing him to fish for sockeye in Mission Bay below the rail bridge. Together with the many sons of Gwen and Granville McKamey, with whom he was bound together in the brotherhood of the Fraser River salmon fishermen, he would fish a succession of boats over a career on the river and up and down the entirety of the West Coast that lasted 49 years at sea. He sailed and fished from the San Juan Strait to Namu to Dundas Island and caught sockeye, springs, pinks, and chum salmon everywhere he went. Nearly everyone in his life either was pressed into service as a deckhand, fish monger, or customer. When the sockeye runs would begin in earnest in July and August, everything else would be put on pause to go fishing.

Both Laura and Jack both spent their summers growing up working on the fishboat. Newt and Sandy before them were the preferred deckhands, and many friends (Fred, David, Jim, Keith, Donny) would be cajoled and drafted into service. Fishing was occasionally lucrative, but John had a passion for it beyond any business logic. When age and infirmity meant he couldn’t set his own net, nor pick it, nor clean and monger his own fish, he would still visit his fishing friends and scour the river for any opportunity to get his hands on some sockeye: to can, to eat, to gift.

When daughter Laura moved away to the prairies – first Edmonton, then Winnipeg – regular care packages of canned fish would be sent on the bus. Jack received a case of 24 cans while living in Toronto and had to find a way to distribute the home-canned delicacies to his somewhat confused central Canadian friends and coworkers. When John visited, his first question was, do you have enough fish?

Eventually, John trained as a marine electrician and spent many years wiring boats up and down the coast, most notably at Admiral Shipyards. Between various forays into towing, beachcombing, and shake claims up Stave Lake, John was able to sustain his family and make it to the next fishing season, where he always dreamed of making his fortune. Veering between open-handed generosity and somewhat suspect remuneration packages for his press-ganged deckhands, he never did strike it rich nor retire a millionaire fisherman.

A sociable, loving man, John was devoted most of all to his wife Vicki. When bringing back some broken tool to the Eaton’s in Mission, he got into a heated argument with the persnickety salesman over whether the tool was replaceable under warranty. The argument escalated into a wrestling match that only ended when the floor manager declared, “the customer is always right!” and saved John from the salesman’s headlock. Vicki was working at Eaton’s that day. John picked himself up and saw Vicki getting ready to leave. He asked if she would like a ride home. She agreed, and the grand romance spanning 56 years began. It would produce two children, two grandchildren, and endure through many hardships, including a final six years of dementia, diabetes, and heart failure.

A wake for John will be held on August 5, 2026, at the Mission Springs from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. His soul shall be commended unto God at Saint Matthew’s Anglican Church (meeting at Grace Church, 2087 McMillan Road, Abbotsford) on August 6, 2026, at 1:00 p.m., following internment at Hatzic cemetery, where he will join his beloved mother-in-law, Dorothy. All are welcome.