Thomas Wistar Brown

On Easter morning, Thomas Wistar Brown V came home from the hospital, surrounded by family and familiar things, and then went home again an hour later. It seemed a fitting day and blessedly, though he had been weaker, the end was relatively quick. He was lucky enough to have been able to enjoy music, books, meals, games, and laughter with family throughout the winter, and this spring he saw the daffodils that he had planted bloom. He will be dearly missed by his beloved Emma, wife of 59 years, his children Kate (Howard), Alice Hodges (Greg), grandchildren Grace, Silas, Atticus and Ira, and his siblings Margot, Kay (Bronislaw), Dick (Kim), and Nick (Janice) as well as his many nieces and nephews.

Twistar was born the eldest of five children to T. W. and Margaret Brown on November 12, 1941 in Philadelphia. He spent a blessed youth in what was, spatially and temporally, the heart of the old Main Line, at a loving and boisterous home on Millcreek Road in Ardmore. His own children remember this house from holiday gatherings as a kind of enchanted castle, inhabited by a family of princes and princesses, each with a healthy sense of mischief.

Twistar attended school at Episcopal, and then St George's in Rhode Island. At Princeton University he studied sciences but majored in History. He proceeded to medical school at Temple University, graduating in 1967. Upon completion of his medical training, Twistar joined the army as a physician with internal medicine residency and trauma experience. He was preparing to depart for Vietnam when his orders changed and he was sent to replace the medical director at Camp Drum in upstate New York. This was lucky for the rest of us: Emma and Twistar moved to Watertown and welcomed their daughter Kate to the world the following year; Alice followed within three.

Following discharge from the army, Twistar completed a four year residency in surgery in Philadelphia. He became a partner in a general surgery practice in Quakertown, Pennsylvania in 1975, serving with St Luke's and Grandview Hospitals. He worked tirelessly, caring for patients with compassion, humour, and fierce insistence on best practice for the next twenty five years. He loved and respected the precision, the practicality, and the caritas of his profession and his fellow medical workers.

Throughout his life Twistar was a voracious reader, particularly of history and science nonfiction, but he enjoyed a good mystery or spy novel as well. He loved music and had season tickets to the Metropolitan Opera for many years. His interest in history, culture, and the natural world inspired a love of travel and exploration. His curiosity was matched by a phenomenal memory. He had extensive knowledge in many fields, which he was more than happy to share with those who inquired as well as with those who did not.

Twistar enjoyed a lengthy retirement during which time he was able to be in places and with people he cared for. Twistar and Emma travelled the world together. There are pictures of him gleefully tucking in to monstrous deserts in far away lands, smiling with genuine delight, almost disbelief, at the realization of being able to share these experiences with such a wonderful person as her. And, he loved the sea. It was part of his soul and being on a boat headed out into the ocean with friend or family by his side was one of the great joys of his life. He cherished the adventure, challenge and the communion with the depths and the beautiful, natural world. He sailed his whole life; as a youngster with his father and family, then with his wife and children and finally, wonderfully, grandchildren. In 1996 Twister and Emma bought a 36' cutter, Ravens Nest. They sailed extensively in the Chesapeake, along the eastern seaboard from North Carolina to Nova Scotia, and in the Bay of Fundy, from Grand Manan to through the reversing falls at St John, New Brunswick. They delighted sailing the coast of Maine.

Fifteen years ago Twistar and Emma became official snowbirds and migrated annually to Sanibel, Florida. This made swimming a mile or more each day, biking the length of the barrier islands, and tending gardens a year round pursuit. Summers were spent in Winter Harbor, Maine; which was the beloved place where family gathered. Here Twistar sailed with the Winter Harbor Yacht Club in Knockabout races, biked the backroads of Hancock and Washington counties, swam in the ocean as well as the much warmer pool, and battled the toothy forces of nature to bring his garden to bloom.

Twistar had many gifts, and many objectively fabulous experiences, yet he struggled against a shadow of depression that waxed and waned throughout his life. Perhaps anyone who is paying attention does. This did not diminish his gratitude and may even have provided fertile ground for his delight in beautiful music, his love of the natural world, his pride in his family. In a similar but lighter paradox, Twistar had tastes which were high-brow in some respects, but he certainly was not one for flash. Except among family and old friends, he traded in Twistar for Tom in his later years. He enjoyed the best of tacky TV with the rest of us, and was rarely seen in clean jeans. He loved to bike through the Dairy Queen drive through, and particularly enjoyed frappuccinos, which are easy to eat even if you don't bother to put in your dental plate.

Twistar cherished his large and wonderful family and it was of the utmost importance to him: he knew that time can be fleeting and precious, and that in the pattern of family there is continuity. In the last months of his illness, Twistar lost strength but wasn't in pain, and he was where he wanted to be, at home. He was sharp as ever. We will remember his fortitude and his philosophic resilience; his ability to still catch us with a wry joke and that everlasting twinkle in his eye. He also experienced a kind of physician's homecoming while undergoing his own medical care, enjoying comfort and camaraderie with all his care team. Sometimes when he was resting with closed eyes, would ask what he was thinking. He said he was sailing, going to harbors he had visited. Cross the Bar, Twistar, and may you see our Pilot face to face.