Life with Mike

Mike Brown passed away peacefully at home on February 4, 2023 in the presence of his wife Judy and dog Zoey beside them.  He died as he lived, slightly on the edge he would say, but always in control of things.  He was born in Troon, Scotland to Alexander and Andrewina Brown, he has a brother Sandy, a sister Lynda, and younger brother Eric.  He loved the ocean, especially catching crabs and lobsters down at Crab Rock and exploring the tide pools at the Troon seaside. He so loved his sons David, Mark and Brian and his grandchildren Alex, Sophia, Trinity, Tanner, Ridley and wee Otis.

He went to work at the Bank of Scotland at 16, learning to count a pile of currency with one hand and staying late, as they did in those days, until the ledger balanced.  That was his start in banking. After the death of his Dad, the Bank of Nova Scotia was recruiting bankers so he applied, was accepted, and immigrated to Canada but not without a few tears for leaving Scotland.  He married and had two sons, David and Mark. Unfortunately things did not work out and the Bank seeing that he had no marital  ties, sent him all over Canada to trouble shoot and fix problems in various departments for Human Resources. His boys of course missed out on their father's attention during this period as most times he only saw them during summer vacation. He continued to take banking courses and became pretty competent in the rules and regulations on "Money".  He willingly took on auditing expeditions for the Bank to Bermuda and other islands and places like that just to see the world. He met and made many life long friends along the way who were also having their own adventures and are still in his circle today.

He took the opportunity to take a position in San Francisco where he met his future wife Judy.  She was pretty leery of this Scots guy, but quit her position as a pension consultant, brought her son Brian with her to follow this guy to Portland, Oregon and they married in 1985.  They then built a house in Beaverton and lived there until 1998 with the hopes that Mike would retire.  He became Managing Director and Office Head and had a vast territory of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. He called on noteworthy corporations putting financial deals together all the while finding the guys who fished or played golf to make even more friends.  He found his niche of having great fun and that work and play fit together for him as a facet of his job.

It was during this time that Judy and Mike revisited the discussions about how to bring these boys from different families and ages together to make for a happy relationship without the competition for his attention.  He worked at that diligently so they would become brothers and integrate into the family for each other.

They bought their first retirement house in Escondido, but Mike did not retire. Judy went south and Mike would come down on weekends.  Two years later Mike wanted a larger house so they found one in Fallbrook that had a fabulous view of Rock Mountain that had 14 acres. Then without notice the Gavilan fire took the house a month before he was to retire, so they moved to a little guest house during the restoration.  By the time the house was livable again, Mike was already talking about a place on Vancouver Island, B.C. with a view of the Georgia Strait.  They packed up but not before Mike became an American Citizen, with Judy advising (more like ordering) that if you become an American you must defend this country and love it like Scotland, and he did.  The house in Victoria was lovely but no one lived full time on the loop, so up island they went to Parksville, where fishing was near and everywhere…the same with golf.  Time went on and it was necessary to get a house back in the States so the first stop was Lincoln… and it turned out to be too small so it was find a house again in Fallbrook, and that is where they landed for their final stop in December 2009.  Amazing it was the longest place Michael had ever stayed put since he left Scotland.  He was a train with many stops.

He loved his books and also came close to being a single malt master who could tell, along with his brother Sandy, which part of Scotland a particular scotch came from. He so enjoyed introducing friends to a new whisky find, and secretly buying up all the stock on a good deal when he could.  He loved to share his whisky as a gift to all who would try it with a desire to learn about it's complexity.

Over all the relocation years Mike rekindled friendships and family relations at every stop.  The boys were treated to a new location and vacation, introduced to Mexico and more fishing. Great friends came to visit also in places that in the least had lots of fishing and lots of golf.  It was only in recent times that Mike was seen to cancel these trips for fishing or golf because his body ached from arthritis. It came to be, which was o.k. with Judy that cruises were an acceptable way to travel so he was still able to see the world. But back to fishing, It was in fact his mission the latter part of 2022 to see to it that he took Brian and Tanner fishing on the Sacramento River, accompany his buddies Gary and Bill from Lincoln for fishing at Pyramid Lake outside of Reno, then David and Alex on Owen Sound, Ontario, and even Ridley and little Otis along with their dad and mom in Cabo San Lucas. His mission was done. All bound to have a memory of this guy and his obsession with fishing. The wanderer he said, I can't help it.

He had managed to see Judy's side of the equation eventually and although concerned about leaving this world he reassured her that she would do fine and he knew she would follow their plan. That was their pact at the end. Zoey dog watching - Judy held onto his hand tightly and he departed.

~This from Mike to all of you:  "Here's tae us; wha's like us? Damn few -  and they're a' deid!"  Slainte' Guys!

Michael will return to Troon to have his ashes scattered on Crab Rock, his only request.  He always said, thank you for the beautiful life I've had.