After being admitted to a hospital unexpectedly, longtime veterinarian Dr. Jerry Brown died after a sudden illness on Feb. 26, leaving behind a lasting legacy.
Brown grew up in Yelm. He graduated from Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1979.
He got his start as a veterinarian in Spanaway before embarking on his career at Yelm Veterinary Hospital in 1982. He became a partner in the practice by 1985 and worked there until his death.
At Yelm Veterinary Hospital, Brown spent a great deal of time paving the way for future animal doctors, teaching hands-on skills to third-year WSU veterinary students.
“He lived his life as full as he could and believed in giving back,” said Jessica Brown, his daughter, who survived Jerry Brown along with her two children, brother Justin Brown and his daughter. “I think one of the major things to talk about is his volunteer work that he did with a couple different organizations.”
For starters, he was the main veterinarian for Wolf Haven International — a sanctuary for captive-born displaced wolves located outside of Tenino — for about 40 years.
“Wolf Haven's professional relationship with Dr. Brown and Yelm Veterinary Hospital began in 1982 when he became our attending veterinarian,” wrote Wendy Spencer, Wolf Haven’s international director of operations, in a Facebook tribute to Brown. “He remained with us through 2020, before parting ways as he moved closer to retirement. Wolf Haven owes Dr. Brown an incredible debt of gratitude for all he did for our wolves.”
Indicative of his time with Wolf Haven, Brown devoted much of his life working with the rehabilitation of wildlife.
He worked with initiatives such as the Mexican Wolf Program.
“They were able to release Mexican wolves back into the wild,” Jessica Brown said. “They’re an endangered species, so he was able to work directly with them as their veterinarian.”
Since the 1990s, Jerry Brown was a Washington state licensed wildlife rehabilitator. He was one of the only licensed rehabilitators in the area for quite some time. At the time of his death, he was the sole wildlife veterinarian on staff at Yelm Veterinary Hospital, which frequently saw animals such as owls and occasionally took care of a beaver or bear.
“Recently, in 2018, he was awarded a fellowship with the Partners for Wildlife, which is through the University of Minnesota. It was a year-long fellowship for wildlife rehabilitation,” Jessica Brown said.
He also conducted animal handling courses with different biologists.
His volunteer work started with his efforts devoted to Rural Area Veterinary Services, which goes to different communities that are in high need of veterinarian services, offering free wellness clinics and spay and neuter clinics in the United States.
This blossomed into his global work. He volunteered for 14 years with World Vets International in places such as Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Panama.
“That’s a big one that he did,” Jessica Brown said. “He was a field service veterinarian and a lead veterinarian. It’s an international veterinary aid organization that leads teams across the globe, giving veterinary services to underserved areas in developing countries.”
During his time with World Vets, he taught hundreds of students surgical skills.
“He just leaves a profound legacy with all of the stuff that he’s done,” Jessica Brown said. “He was an exceptionally gifted surgeon and loved teaching, so he really loved to give back and also teach the skills that he knew.”
In his personal life, Brown was passionate about his family and lived by the motto, “Family first.”
“He loved his kids and his grandkids and he made everybody his family — everybody,” Jessica Brown said. “You could talk to a hundred people and they would say, ‘Jerry was my best friend,’ or ‘he was my family.’ Even though they were not blood-related, he made everybody feel like they were his best friend.”
He believed in treating everybody, especially animals, with kindness and compassion.
Brown loved nature, often taking his kids on backpacking trips. As an adventurer, he summited Mount Rainier twice and also climbed Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams.
He enjoyed playing basketball and even coached the lady Yelm Tornados during the 1990s.
“A big thing he would like to say, and he got this from his uncle, but he always used to say, ‘You can’t beat fun,’” Jessica Brown said. “He always liked to have fun. He was a prankster. He always made people laugh and he had a bunch of costumes and wigs that he would try to trick people with.”
The thrill he got from making people laugh extended to his professional career, according to Yelm Vet practice manager Lyn Mitchell, who worked with Brown for 18 years.
“He was a lot of fun to work with,” Mitchell said. "He really loved what he did and he believed that you could have fun while you were at work. He was a prankster and would pull some epic pranks on us over the years. He just had a smile that lit up the room and he was very droll and an all-around-funny guy and a pleasure to work with.”
One day, only two months into her job at Yelm Veterinary Hospital, Mitchell recalled a time when she was still a receptionist at the practice.
“We had closed, and me and the other receptionist were in the back doing the closing procedures,” Mitchell said. “There was a commotion up front and this guy comes in. It was this huge guy with a Jamaican hat on and sort of a colorful robe. … It was Dr. Brown. That was the first time we were exposed to his prank-like nature and it was definitely (hilarious).”
