It’s no exaggeration to say Wesley Brown helped build Thornton.
Brown, who died Nov. 27 at age 92, moved to the city north of Denver when there were fewer than 500 residents and only seven streets.
Now Thornton, named after the late Gov. Dan Thornton, has more than 100,000 residents.
“We were here from the very bottom,” said Brown’s wife, Lisa Brown. In those early days, “it seemed almost like Wyoming,” because there was so much open space, she said.
Wesley Brown, who worked for 28 years as manager at Millers Super Market, the first supermarket in the area, was involved in civic and city activities from the beginning.
He was on the water board for 32 years, the school board for 12 years and the State Board of Education advisory committee.
He was one of the early residents who understood the need for water and because plans were made years ago, Thornton has plenty of water, Lisa Brown said.
His activity with the local water board, as well as the Metropolitan Waste Water Reclamation District, led to Brown’s name being put on a water treatment plant in Thornton.
He joked about that, saying, “You know you’ve really arrived when they name a sewage plant after you.”
Wesley Hamlin Brown was born June 24, 1914, in Wyoming, Ill. He moved with his family to Modesto, Calif., where he graduated from high school.
He started work at age 12 with a newspaper route, putting lids on boxes of grapes and working in a cannery.
He was drafted, serving in England, France and Italy as well as Denver’s Lowry Air Force Base.
While in the service, he met Lisa De Santis, who worked in a civil service office downtown. After their first meeting, he told a friend, “I’m going to marry that girl.” The wedding was Dec. 16, 1945.
Brown was an easy man to live with, his wife said. He rarely showed a temper, save for the occasional outburst about “those damned Democrats.”
“I’m a Democrat,” said Lisa Brown. “We could have just stayed home on election days.”
After more time in the service in Italy and Africa and the United States, he retired as a first lieutenant.
He got jobs at a food distributing company and a dairy before going to Millers.
Retirement didn’t slow him. After Millers, he did public relations for 12 years with Sinton Dairy.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters: Melinda Younger of Thornton and Cynthia Ann Gettman of San Martin, Calif.; a son, Val Brown of Thornton; three sisters, Etna Scott of Corpus Christi, Texas, Etheleen Andrews of Washington, Ill., and Ruth Davis of Westminster.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at vculver@denverpost.com or 303-954-1223.
