Obituary of Wesley Brown

Wesley �Wes� Brown, age 82, of Osage Beach, Missouri, passed away Thursday, July 1, 2010 in Osage Beach. He was born on June 28, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. At sixteen years of age, and a student at Taft High School in Chicago, Wes was chosen among thousands of students, to present a plaque to President Harry S. Truman, which symbolized the giving of over seven hundred and fifteen million dollars towards war equipment, raised by school kids of American through the purchase of bonds and stamps. George Murphy, a popular MGM motion picture star, �coached� Wes before the presentation was given. Wes enlisted with the Army National Guard in 1946 and earned the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, before being honorably discharged in 1954. In 1952, he married Marion Henriksen, who was visiting relatives in Chicago and had planned to return to her California home. After a whirlwind romance, they lived in Chicago for thirteen years, and had three sons; Brian, Kevin, and Eric. Thanks to their sons, Wes and Marion were blessed with seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. For twenty-five years they lived in St. Louis, Missouri, where Wes was Vice-President and General Manager of Industrial Controls Division of Emerson Electric, before founding EMI Laboratories and Q Mark, Inc. which provided sales and service over a twelve state area in the Medical Diagnostic Electronics field. His sons ran branch offices for the corporation, which specialized in acoustic measuring and testing devices, and mobile units for �on board� medical testing, field hospitals, XRay, and other similar applications. Wes was the pioneer in developing these innovative testing units whose services were rendered among others, the Porsche Racing Team, Mobile Sports Medicine, and the Lions hearing test units. Wes, as he was known, retired to the lake in 1989 and became active in the community. He was on the Osage Beach Board of Alderman, then ten years each on the Fire Board and Airport Board. Wes was instrumental in the implementation of updating the Lee C. Fine airport, so that larger corporate jets could use the facility. Wes enjoyed spending time on the computer and sending and receiving emails. He especially loved to receive jokes through email, and would tell his jokes to the many doctors, nurses and pharmacies in the area when visiting them. Wes had fought cancers, and several other serious illnesses for over sixteen years, but still loved and enjoyed his life here at Lake of the Ozarks. He will be lovingly remembered and missed by all who knew him.