Good Morning. Thank you all for attending today's service. On behalf of my entire family, we appreciate you being with us today. My name is Christopher Brown and I have the honor and pleasure to share with you the life story of my father, Commander Hal Gibbs Brown United States Navy (retired). I feel particularly blessed to be here today with all of the family, friends and loved ones in this very special place. It is an impossible task to try and summarize the life of this kind, loving, wonderful man and frankly I was despairing of how I would even begin until I sat and prayed for guidance and the good lord delivered...I heard the voice of my dad as clear as day saying with his slow southern drawl..."I love you son". It was all so simple after that. When I think about my father, I think about one word...LOVE. That's what I want to share with you today, the celebration of the love that this man brought into all of our lives and the love that he is sharing with his Heavenly Father right now.
Hal was born December 30, 1930 at Fort McClellan Army Base near Anniston, Alabama a small town located in the northeastern part of the state. He was the son of Willie Ruth Johnson and Major Henry Chester Brown. Life in the army during the depression involved lots of moves to various army posts throughout the south. Hal was the middle child with older brother Joe, older sister Anne, younger brothers Bill and Jim. He loved his parents, brothers and sisters with all of his heart and soul. He was connected to them in every way that he could be and told stories about fishing the bayous as well as working the gardens and farms together as a family. According to his brother Jim, Hal was the talker in the family and had the gift of being able to wheedle things like baseball tickets to the Alexandria Aces from his father at the ripe old age of 12. Hal once told me a story about having the chore of making sure that the family milk cow was pastured in the right field, Hal wanted to go fishing and instead of putting the cow in the hay field she made it into the onion field. According to Dad it was the worst tasting milk ever and the Major had him slop the pigs for a month to make up for it. Hal's early family life was instrumental in forming the basis for his success later in life, hard work, responsibility, duty and teamwork were born and nurtured during his youth. Hal loved his family deeply.
While he loved the simple, rural life that he had grown up with, the good lord had a different destination in mind. When he turned seventeen years old he had the bright idea of signing up for military service but the recruiter would not take him without a signature from his parents. He went back and asked his mother to sign but she said absolutely not and refused to do it but his father, Major Henry Brown, said yes and Hal was officially enlisted in the United States Navy on November 29, 1948.
He met the love of his life Patricia Ann Joganic in San Diego while on duty there in
1956. On a whim Patricia went to a baseball game with a group of her girl friends. Mom tells us that she saw this really good looking guy in a leather jacket and just by chance met him again near Balboa park where she was staying with her brothers. Hal and Pat's first real date was a boat ride in San Diego Bay. Hal and Patricia were married in Yuma, AZ on June 2, 1956. They jumped right back in their black Volkswagen beetle and drove down for a weeklong honeymoon in Rosarita Beach Mexico.
Hal had duty stations and assignments all across the United States. His eldest daughter Laura was born in Seattle followed by Peggy in Honolulu, Hal in San Pedro and I was born in Bethesda Maryland.
29 years into his Naval career with four kids and a command of his own he was stationed at Mare island Naval Shipyard playing a couple quick holes of golf on his lunch hour and wasn't feeling well so he went in to see a base doctor. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health and said to come back and see him for a full physical the following week. On the way out of the hospital, right there on the front steps Hal suffered a massive heart attack and was caught by a passing corpsman and given CPR until he made it to the emergency room. He would go on to survive two more major heart attacks, two coronary artery bypass surgeries and countless other procedures. Hal retired from the Navy on December 31, 1978.
Of course retirement for Hal meant going to Grand Canyon University for a Bachelors of Science in Accounting with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. His next career move was even more unexpected as he went to work at the Maricopa County Public Defenders office as an investigator. He rose to the level of senior investigator. The attorneys in the Public Defenders office loved working with him and did everything they could to get him to work their cases, as you could imagine he was outstanding in front of a judge and jury. He finally retired for good and moved to Healdsburg to be closer to his family. His final years were spent living at the little tudor style red and White House on North street enjoying time with his family and friends.
Hal loved his wife Patricia. That love they shared was forged and strengthened over the years into something so special, so real, so human. Of the 30 years, 2 months and 3 days that he was in the Navy, Hal served a total of 19 years at sea. His love for Patricia and her love for him was the glue that held the family together during those long absences. While we were vacationing in Hawaii last June we had the opportunity to attend a luau. At one point in the ceremony they asked married couples celebrating anniversaries to stand up and be recognized. They slowly started asking for those to remain standing who had been married more than five years, ten years, twenty and finally 50 plus years. Hal and Patricia were the last two standing. They shared a few minutes in the spotlight together staring deeply into each other's eyes and whispering I love you. Hal, ever the showman, leaned down as the music ended and enthusiastically kissed her...the crowd roared!
Hal's love for Patricia truly was the core of his being. On the day he passed away he was in the ICU unit. Pat was there and it was time for a nursing shift change. They both knew the drill. She walked over to the bed leaned in close for a kiss and his last words to her on this earth were..."I love you baby".
Hal loved his family. He was always there to support us kids whenever we needed it. He coached us. He mentored us. He encouraged us. He was the best dad and father figure that any children could ask for. He was never shy about showing us how much he loved us and went of his way to tell us. He was stern but fair and always put things squarely on the table. I remember when we were living in Glendale, Arizona and one of our neighbors a young man of about my same age took his parents car for a joy ride. I wasn't even sure what a joyride was but i remember my dad taking me into the living room and explaining what happened and that my friend had brought the car and himself back safely. He paused at the end of the conversation and asked if i had any questions. I told him no and as i prepared to get up he touched me lightly on the sleeve, looked me straight in the eye and said.."son if you ever decide to take my car you'd better just keep on driving". It was a great lesson for a teenager and I can honestly tell you I NEVER took the car without his permission. Hal just had a knack of saying the right thing in the right way that even made it through to us as crazy teen agers. He had a special sense that must have activated on those rare occasions when I might have been tempted to go astray and would also stop me and remind me before I went out the door to "operate within the envelope of prudence".
For those of you who never had the privilege of getting to know Hal Brown, you can see him reflected through the actions and character of his children Laura, Peggy, Hal and I.
Hal loved his grand kids and great grand kids. Oh boy did he love those kids. I sincerely hope you get a chance to speak with them and experience directly what his love for them meant. They will tell you that Poppa was always there for them. He made time to be with them and truly cared about them. They will tell you about how funny he was, how he had the best Donald Duck voice, about drinking a crazy concoction called coffee milk out of plastic creamer cups and experiencing the mythical and mysterious Yehudi. To them Poppa was stability, a foundation, a safe place.
He was never too busy. Never too tired. He always loved to spend time with them. Hal did everything he could to make them feel special and loved. Disneyland. Knots Berry Farm. Hawaii. Day trips to the beach, walking to the park, having a picnic or just getting out the salt shaker and leading them out to the back yard for a fresh bite of tomatoes. Hal loved his grand children and great grandchildren.
Hal loved to eat! I heard this several times over the course of the past week in discussions with family, friends and ship mates. Anyone who was acquainted with Hal knew that he loved food of all kinds and was never "off his feed" as he would like to say. His meal on Thursday night before he passed away was fittingly enough at Cattleman's restaurant where he proceeded to put away 12 ounces of prime rib.
While it was true that Hal loved all food, Yvette Kon's cheesecake and cinnamon rolls held a special place in his heart and he eagerly looked forward to their arrival and would cherish them.
In addition to loving to eat...he loved to cook. I remember him making some crazy concoction called Chow Chow....green tomatoes onions vinegar and lord knows what else. i just remember the smell being so pungent that I would go to my friends house to escape. It was literally an all day process and all hands evolution with friends and family dragooned into the food preparation.
His Sunday breakfast routine was the stuff of legend..he lovingly called it the whole hog breakfast...bacon, sausage, ham steak, fried bologna, cream beef on toast, red eye gravy, cream gravy, biscuits...it was a two hour marathon for the family and Hal loved it.
He loved to garden...when he retired to Glendale AZ all the locals told it was impossible to grow huge beefsteak tomatoes. He didnt believe them. He researched and came special additives to soil and a crazy one of a kind shading system. It worked. He grew tomatoes that were as big as pumpkins. Hal often told us that he was "never happier than digging in the dirt"
Hal loved sports.
Athletic played basketball at Tioga High School in LA and held the scoring record for over 30 years...his set shot was a thing of beauty.
Another sport he loved was golf. In Arizona he "taught" my niece Brienne how to play by making her shag golf balls at Glendale community collage. Even later in life he enjoyed the game and while he couldn't drive the ball far his short game was outstanding. I remember him fondly saying as he drove the ball straight down the fairway his famous catch phrase of ..."high diddle diddle right down the middle"
His true love and passion was for baseball. He was a lefty and had wicked stuff as a pitcher. Curve. Knuckle. Slider. Split. He could throw them all. Just that morning he passed away we were talking about a game he was playing in San Diego where he was pitching to future hall of famer and World Series perfect game hero Don Larson. Don was the Biggest most talented player in the entire league. Dad thought, I can get this guy out. Don Larson steps up to the plate digs in. Dad throws him an awesome breaking ball and Don Larson hit that thing 400 feet for a towering home run. He remembered it fondly and oh by the way never forgot that dad's team won that game.
He loved to travel. Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Japan, Hong Kong, Morroco. Lost in Italy. Poppa got on two different trains in Naples. Mimi made it but Hal did not. Wrong train with no tickets, couldn't get on the base
Hal loved his country and he loved serving in the United States Navy.
Hal was a true patriot giving 30 years of distinguished service to the United States Navy. Most of all, he loved his shipmates. It began at Recruit Training Command San Diego as a seamen recruit e1 and upon graduation was assigned to USS Prairie (AS-15)
Happy chipping paint as part of the deck crew his Chief Boatswains mate told him he needed to strike for a rate. Hal said, no he was happy just being on the deck crew. Dad told the story that the Chief grabbed him by the front of the uniform, lifted him off the deck and told him YOU WILL STRIKE FOR A RATE. Hal decided right there on the spot that he would strike for rate and went to Sonar School at Naval Training San Diego.
Hal completed Sonar School in 1949 and reported to the USS Henry W. Tucker (DDR-875). He served a tour as an instructor at Fleet Sonar School.
He also served aboard the USS Romback (DE-364), USS Hamul (AD-20), ASW Training Officer at Fleet Training in Pearl Harbor and electronic officer on the USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31). He served in the Pentagon as an Assistant to the Director of Underseas Warfare and Assistant Chief of Naval Operations. It was at this point that he found the Submarine service and his next tour of duty was as Operations Office and Navigator on board USS Halibut (SSN-587). He ended his career as Commanding Officer Submarine Development Group One at Mare Island Navy Ship Yard. Along the way, the country kid from the Deep South had become an officer and a gentleman. Hal was a mustang. Mustang is the term in the navy to denote an officer that also served as an enlisted man. It is rare in the service and not only did Hal become an officer he made it all the way to O-4 with the rank of Commander. As naval tradition says it, Hal was ..."up through the hawse hole" and he was proud of it.
Something about the Submarine service deeply appealed to Hal and he was passionate about being part of that tight knit fraternity. He once told me that in the submarine service things were different than the regular Navy, that the sense of teamwork and camaraderie was real in that each submariner literally held the life of his fellow sailors in his hands at all times. That bond with his shipmates was real and he absolutely loved them. While he remembered his time in the surface fleet fondly, he was at home in the silent service. His favorite t-shirt read Hi Skimmers on one side and Bye Skimmers on the other.
Hal's shipmates remember him as one of the most popular officers on board. Always smiling. Always positive. Always telling stories. In today's football terms you would describe him as a players coach.
A lot of what Commander Brown and his shipmates did aboard the USS Halibut is still classified today. They were fighting the Cold War up close and personal with danger all around them. He and they never shirked or shied away from their duty. The USS Halibut and crew including Commander Hal G. Brown received the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest award given to a military group in peace time. Hal truly loved his shipmates.
Hal loved this church and everyone in it. Hal was always willing to give of his time as part of this faith community whether it was through assisting with finances and accounting for the local ward, home teaching or making his famous strawberry ice-cream for his brothers and sisters in the church. For all of the church members here today, I wanted to share a story about how he found his faith. When we were living in Glendale, AZ most of our neighbors and friends were LDS. Hal was interested in learning more and started receiving missionaries in our home. I remember one Saturday after a missionary visit, Dad came into the living room where Hal and I were watching TV. He turned the set off and told us that he just had a special warm feeling in his heart so he stopped to pray and had accepted Jesus as his savior.
Hal loved this church. He loved his lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Love. That is Hal's true legacy for this mortal world.
Commander Hal Gibbs Brown passed away on Friday, January 9th 2015 but his love for all of us and for his Heavenly Father will live forever.
