William Howard Brown

William (Bill) Howard Brown passed away on Monday, September 7th, 2026. He is survived by his four children, Mary Wiener, Elizabeth Streett (Scott), Kimberly Heiser (Terry), Howard Brown (Amber), and his nine grandchildren: Carter, Brooke, Matilda, Nelson, Nikolai, Shawon, Brittney, William, Jesse.

Bill was born in Vallejo, California on May 13th, 1939. He lived throughout California until the age of 5, before emigrating to Portland, Oregon where he spent 2 more years in the United States.

In 1947, Bill moved with his mother, Gladys Loreta Brown (née Lillie) to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, to join his father, Howard “Brownie” Brown, an oilman with ARAMCO.

Bill attended high school at the American Community School in Beirut, Lebanon, graduating in 1956.

In 1959, Bill returned to the United States to attend Stanford University where he received his BS in Electrical Engineering. In 1960, Bill had the distinction of being Editor-in-Chief of “The Quad”, Stanford University’s well-known yearbook.

After university, Bill returned to Portland, OR, where he worked for Bell Telephone & Telegraph.

In his mid-twenties, Bill met his first wife Sally Ann Dillon (née Duncan). Bill had 2 children with Sally. Howard Scott (born in Bellevue, Washington in 1965), and Kimberly Sue (born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1967).

In 1966, the family moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey. Shortly after the birth of Bill’s daughter, Kimberly, the family built a home in Ringwood, New Jersey, where the family lived along with Howard & Kimberly’s two half-sisters, until Sally and Bill were divorced in 1971.

Bill would remain a resident of New Jersey for the next 27 years, before returning to the Pacific Northwest.

In 1979, while living in Budd Lake, New Jersey, Bill met his second wife Adele Louise Ransom, and they were married on April 11, 1980. In 1984, Bill and Adele made their first home together in Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey. They had two children together, Elizabeth Acacia (in 1983) and Mary French (in 1985).

In 1993, Bill, Adele, Mary and Elizabeth moved to Vancouver, WA.. Bill was employed by Tri-Met until his retirement in 1998. He was preceded in death by Adele, who passed away on July 29th, 2020.

Bill and Adele remained very much in love and were happily married for over 40 years.

Private family interment.