Lawrence Leonard Brown

Lawrence was born April 20, 1918 and died February 28, 2019 at the age of 100. He was the son of Walter V. and Mary Ann Claymon Brown and was born in the home of his maternal grandparents John and Mary Claymon on Peone Prairie, Spokane County, Washington. He was the brother of Clifford C. Brown and Willard W. Brown, both deceased. His paternal grandparents were David and Nellie Brown also of Peone Prairie, deceased.

His parents farmed on White Bluff Prairie starting in 1920. They supplied raw milk in bulk to Fort George Wright military personnel during the 1930’s, and maintained a stand at the retail farmers market, selling farm produce, and had a retail bottled milk delivery route, both in Spokane.

Lawrence graduated from Great Northern Grade School, District 312, a two-room, two-teacher, K-8th grade school. The school celebrated 100 years of operation in 1994 and is still an active, productive, educational unit of six grades. He was a Spokane County 4-H member for nine years, a graduate of Lewis and Clark High School in 1936 and received a Union Pacific scholarship to W.S.C.

In 1941, Lawrence graduated from W.S.C. with a degree in Animal Science, then did graduate work at Colorado State, Oregon State, and Washington State Universities. He was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity, Mu Beta Beta, Epsilon Sigma Phi; honoraries. Also, past president, secretary, and treasurer – Washington Extension Agents Association and received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Extension Agents.

His W.S.U. Extension Service Educator career started in Yakima County in 1941. He served as County Extension Chairman on the W.S.U. Cooperative Extension faculty in Ferry, Franklin and Lincoln counties. He planned and conducted farm, home and 4-H educational programs. He wrote weekly educational columns for all Lincoln County papers covering subjects including farming, economics, 4-H club and human interest stories. Lawrence retired from the W.S.U. Cooperative Extension Service in 1977.

Lawrence served in the Army of the United States infantry and CIC during WWII from 1944-1946. He was commissioned a 2nd Lt. in the Infantry, June 1945 and 1st Lt. Military Intelligence Reserve, May 1950. He served in the 520th Counter-Intelligence Corps Detachment, Camp Hood, Texas.

Lawrence married Elizabeth Foster on June, 1941. They have three children, son Terry G. Brown and wife Maria; daughter Susan F. Tyree and husband Chris; and daughter Peggy J. Alt. They have eleven grandchildren and many great grandchildren. They celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary on June 22, 2016.

In post retirement he was a consulting agronomist for Rockford Grain Growers, performed research with herbicides for Spokane, Lincoln and Adams counties cooperative extension. He was a summer intern, doing herbicide research with Hoechst Agrivet, Agrevo, Aventis, and Bayer Crop Science Companies. He also worked as a crop insurance adjuster for Grange Insurance Association and was a Tech Assistant for W.S.U. Farm Testing.

During this time he and wife Elizabeth built a home on their property near Colbert, Washington. They moved there from Davenport, Washington and lived there for 26 years. He was a son of the soil with Elizabeth as his partner in their small farm operation. They raised grain, hay, and timber. They were awarded the District Conservation Wildlife Farm of the Year, 2006 sponsored by the Washington Association of Conservation Districts.

He was active in church, civic, and community affairs, a past member of Pasco, Davenport and Mead Methodist Churches and a current member of Mead Methodist Church. Lawrence was active in all aspects of church organization – lay witness missions and the Spokane District. He also served as a Stephen Minister and was a Hospice of Spokane volunteer.

In remembrance, the family requests contributions of choice to Alpha Gamma Rho Sigma Chapter, 730 NE Linden Ave., Pullman, WA 99163; the W.S.U. Foundation, CAHNR, Pullman, WA 99163; the Washington 4-H Foundation, 7612 Pioneer Way, Puyallup, WA 98371; or the Hospice House of Spokane, PO Box 2215, Spokane, WA 99210.

The Memorial Service will be held at the Fowler United Methodist Church, 3928 N. Howard St., Spokane, WA 99205 on March 23, 2019 at 11:00 am.