I would like to acknowledge my father-in-law, William Brown. I have been with my husband for 18 years. However, I didn’t have the opportunity to get to know Bill until last year because my husband and I just moved here from Arizona. Although we have visited and communicated over the years, it’s difficult to really know someone by phone.
From that first day I met him, Bill was always teaching us survival tips. We live in a very rural area. Bill would point to trees or bushes and say,“ Do you know what that is.” Then we would listen to everything there was to know about that tree or bush. He loved to ask, “Did you know you can eat that.”
Bill was always, ALWAYS, teaching us new things about life. It was him that gave me my first pistol, but not before teaching me every single thing there was to know about it. I can now take it completely apart, clean it and put it back together in a matter of minutes. Bill would have us target shoot, and with every shot, we would hear a new story about the gun, the ammo or the targets he used to shoot at as he grew up.
Bill was very proud of his Cherokee heritage, his service in the army, and the country he fought for. After his service time, he met my mother-in-law, Terry, and fell in love at first sight. They married, and he took her four very young children and loved them as his own. Bill is the only ‘dad’ the kids have ever known.
Bill became ill and passed away in January 2025. I miss his stories.. and if I can be selfish, I wasn’t finished learning from him. There was so much more I wanted to learn.
He would always say “Life is like a Kaleidoscope… with every turn, it’s something new”. We all have Kaleidoscopes now, and when we’re missing him, we look into the kaleidoscope and smile. With every turn, there is a new view and a new memory. Bill was a proud husband, father and grandfather. His military experience sculpted him to the amazing and incredible man he was.
