05-05-1925 / 12-12-2012
Born in Tredegar South Wales in 1925, Tom (The Boss) Brown worked for Barclays Bank for 44 years, during which time he also managed to live an active and sporting life of great variety.
At the age of 12 he fitted his homemade canoe with broomstick and bed sheet, and set off across Saundersfoot Bay learning to sail as he headed for the open sea.
The lifeboat was launched but the young marinheiro found his own way home. This marked the beginning of a remarkable love affair with the sea. He helmed and raced a wide range of sailing craft over a period of 75 years, with a break during World War 2 when he served in the Royal Navy.
Three days before his untimely death, he had enjoyed a couple of happy hours sailing his Laser dinghy in Lagos Bay, in a kindly breeze under a blue Algarvean sky.
A modest and remarkable man with a keen sense of humour, many skills and always there when help was needed, his smile and twinkling eyes lifted the heart of whomever he met.
As a yachtsman with great respect for the sea, he read wind, wave and current with consummate skill both round Britain, across the English Channel and for the past 25 years as a member of Lagos Sailing Club. He carried their burgee to success in countless Campeonatos, this with three artificial joints and latterly many medical problems which left him undaunted.
A Christian of humble access, his faith carried him through to the end, and having worshipped since 1988 in Luz Bay Church, Tom now lies resting in Luz Cemetery, leaving behind two daughters and his wife of 58 years to whom he was simply the best. Margaret Brown
Turn to page 38 to read Margaret Brown’s column ‘Country Matters’.
