Thomas Elroy "Beaver" Brown

Thomas Elroy Brown, always known as Elroy, was born in Baltimore on May 22, 1932. He was the eighth child of Sarah and George A. Brown, Sr.. A proud lifetime resident of the City of Baltimore. Elroy attended Catholic School until his eighth-grade year. He then enrolled in Douglas High School and moved on to graduate from Carver High School, a black school for trades.

When the school bell rang he continued to his after-school job working in a shoe repair shop in Forest Park. This was during the war when people had to have stamps to get shoes because all of the shoemakers were doing all they could to keep up with the demand for shoes for those fighting in the war. As a result, the shoe business was booming so in trade school, shoe repair seemed a great fit. Similar to public school, lessons in shoe repair hardly matched that of what he was learning on the job. He quickly advanced from a finisher to a full shoe repairman and was even starting to do some orthopedic work.

After Carver, at age 18, he chose to join the Army. Wet behind the ears, he started basic training at Fort Meade in Maryland and was deployed to Germany shortly after. In Germany, his battalion was charged with building bridges and tunnels, repairing roads and re-building infrastructure. The racial atmosphere of an integrated Army was that of race relations in the U.S. at the time. Blacks and whites fought all the time, Toilets, water fountains and seats in the mess hall were still designated for "coloreds." Whites had many privileges that blacks did not, like the freedom to go home for family weddings. His sister, Hilah was to be married to Jackson Glaze. Elroy was to be in the wedding, but when he went to his sergeant to ask permission to go home, his sergeant said no! They were being transferred to Korea. He was not going to miss his sister's wedding, so he went home using money he had saved from a little side business. He loaned money, with interest of course, to his fellow Army mates who weren't as financially savvy.

Eventually they caught up with him and sent him to military prison for going AWOL. While in military jail he began to talk with the young men who were also bucking the system, telling them it wasn't worth it, and to just follow the rules. This got him out on good behavior and allowed him to escape a dishonorable discharge.

He was honorably discharged from the Army at 22 and returned to Baltimore where he bought his first home, next door to his sister Hilah.

He loved driving so he applied to be a bus driver, but there was so much buzz about the fire department being integrated that he decided to give it a try.

He went to Fire School and then right into Engine 32, Truck One. It was like the Army all over again. Blacks and whites were still separate even in an integrated system. There were three or four beds for "coloreds" to every fifty for white guys. Sinks, water fountains - all still designated. Truck One was a long truck with a double caboose and T. E. Brown was the aillerman driving the back caboose. He had gotten quite good at his job and the money was good. At the time, he was also going to school for electronic to learn to fix TVs. While in the firehouse waiting for calls, he was fixing TVs. All the guys, black and white, brought in their TVs to be repaired. Realizing this could prove to be a lucrative endeavor, he shared with his brother-in-law Jack Glaze. Jack went to school for it too, and before you knew it they set-up a shop in the basement of the house on Myrtle Avenue.

He started buying more and more houses, as well as B. N. M. Liquors on Fulton Avenue, followed by Cookie's Liquors in East Baltimore. Elroy Brown, who was affectionately called "Beaver" because he always worked so hard, was a brilliant businessman at every turn.

He lived through segregation and integration, was present at the March on Washington with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Million Man March; and definitely there in spirit at the inauguration of the country's first African-American President - a day he never thought he would see. He personally experienced grave racism in school, church, the Army, the Fire Department and life in general. Despite his experiences he had an infectious love and admiration of life and humankind.

After his passing he left to cherish his memory, his only daughter, Nikole "Nikki" Lowe; dear, sweet sister Bette Roche; his running mate, best buddy and brother-in-law Golden "Sputs" Roche; his son-in-law David Lowe; his grandchildren Thomas "Tommy" (10) and Chase (6) Lowe; many, many nieces and nephews who he loved dearly as his own; and a symphony of other relatives and friends.

Thomas Elroy Brown was a beloved brother, uncle, father, grandfather and friend. He laughed with his entire body and just lit up a room. He was always there to offer advice in business, money management and life. His favorite thing in the world was the cooking and baking of his "dear sweet sister" (he actually called all of his sisters that) Bette Roche. He loved watching the O's, Ravens, 60 Minutes, old western, and "...if it was Sunday it was Meet the Press." He treasured time to spend with family and friends most of all. He believed he would never stop growing as a person until the day he left his body. His gentle way, generosity, brilliance, sense of humor and zest for life  will be missed in the physical form yet his spirit will warm our hearts and lives always.

A Memorial Service was held on Saturday, September 29, 2018 at St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Church. Pastor Rev. Gene Sheridan officiated. Ushers were Marshal Glaze, Marcus Glaze, Christopher Demory, Derek Jackson and Anthony Carpenter. Honorary Pallbearers were Golden "Sputs" Roche, Mark Glaze, Martin Glaze, David Lowe, Cory McNeill, and Mike Brown. Gift Bearers were Jennifer Demory, DJ Camak and Lynn Roche.

Elroy's daughter, Nikki Lowe, extended a warm and very special thanks to her Aunt Bette and Uncle Sputs for all of their help and care when ordinary tasks like cooking, grocery shopping, and much more became harder  and harder for her dad. She also thanked Mark Glaze for being her Dad's confidant, financial advisor and manager, finder of all things "lost", and for always having her back, and for being the brother she never had through hard times. Last, but not least, she thanked Miriam Burns for being her Dad's "Ride or Die" and for all the spaghetti dinners, trips to Red Lobster and for always making new times just like old times. Nikki's gratitude is such that words cannot express.

In 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to make a solo flight crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the parking meter was invented, Little Richard was born, and Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated herbert Hoover. The average cost of a new house was $6,510, average annual income was $1,650, a new car was about $610, a gallon of gas set you back $00.10, and a loaf of bread was $00.07. But 1932 was special for another reason; Mr. and Mrs. George  A. Brown, Sr. welcomed their 8th child into the world, Nikki's father, Thomas Elroy Brown.

As a young boy he was a little awkward with a rather large head and even large ears, but as we all know, that was an extremely handsome man in the making. He remembers being painfully shy to my surprise she said.

Although, not proud of it, he used to sneak in the back door if his parents were entertaining or if people were visiting, so he wouldn't have to talk to people. He recalls always wishing he were more outgoing. He was a great student though. he did well in the eight years he was able to attend Catholic school. In fact, he was such a great student that the nuns called his parents in to tell them that he should try to attend the Catholic High School, Loyola. At the time, Loyola was not integrated, and although the nuns said they wanted to welcome him with open arms, they added that the wealthy white funders of the school would withdraw their money. Wo with a heavy spirit, he enrolled in Douglass High School. Lessons in public school were so far behind that he had already learned in Catholic school that he began to lose interest. As he was hooking more school than he was attending, he told his dad that he didn't want to go to school anymore. But George Brown told him he had to finish or he would have a hard time finding a decent job. Reluctantly he went to Carver High School, a black school for trades.

When the school bell rang he continued to his first after-school job working in a shoe repair shop in Forest Park. This was during the war when people had to have stamps to get shoes because all of the shoemakers were doing all they could to keep up with the demand for those fighting in the war. As a result, the shoe business was booming so in trade school, lessons in shoe repair hardly matched that of what he was learning on the job. He quickly advanced from a finisher to a full shoe repairman and was even starting to do some orthopedic work. he excelled again and graduated from Carver.

After Carver, at age 18, he chose to join the army. Wet behind the ears, he started basic training at Fort Meade in Maryland, and was deployed to Germany shortly thereafter. In Germany, his battalion was charged with building bridges and tunnels, repairing roads, and rebuilding infrastructure. The racial atmosphere of an integrated army was that of race relations in the U.S. at the time. Blacks and whites fought all of the time. Toilets, water fountains, and seats in the mess hall were still designated for "coloreds." Whites had many privileges that blacks did not, like whites were permitted to go home for family weddings. His sister, Hilah, was about to be married to Jackson Glaze. He was to be in the wedding, but when he went to his sergeant to ask permission to go home, his sergeant said no! They were about to be transferred to Korea. My dad was not going to miss his sister's wedding, so he went home - I believe they call that AWOL!

So how did a young kid get home from Germany on his own? We all know my dad as a businessman right? Well, Thomas Brown saved money of course! "Everything was provided. We had food, shelter, transportation, so I saved my money," he said. they didn't pay a lot in the army back then, so it was rare for young men to save the money. Not only was he saving his wages, he was making money by selling money to all of the other guys who didn't save and needed  to buy cigarettes, take girls out on dates, and pay off gambling debts, or send gifts home to their family and friends.. He charged interest, making money on his money - not surprising! Brilliant - but still not surprising! His goal was to return home and open his own shoe repair shop, so when the time came to go home for his sister's wedding he had the money.

Eventually they caught up with him and sent him back to Europe. This was after spending some time in military prison for that wedding that he couldn't miss. While in military jail he began to tap with the young men who were also bucking the system, telling them that it wasn't worth it and to just follow the rules, etc. this got him out on good behavior, and allowed him to escape dishonorable discharge. He was later sent home and honorably discharged because he had developed stomach ulcers.

he got out of the army at 22. He returned to Baltimore and bought his first home, next door to his sister Hilah, with all of the money he had saved. the house was big enough for more than one , so he made it into apartments and met, and became fast friends with Ann Scheper, his first tenant. To make a long story short, many people have lived in that house over the years, including Sputs and Bette Roche. He chuckled as he remembered living in that house. "Mama gave me hell until I moved back home so Bette and Sputs could have more room in the house, but I kept my little cat house in the basement so I could entertain all of my girlfriends." he devilishly said.

His plan to open a shoe repair shop fell through with the end of the war and decreased demand. He loved driving, so he applied to be a bus driver, but there was so much buzz about the fire department being integrated that he decided to give it a try. He went to fire schoo, and then right into Engine 32, Truck One. It was like the army  all over again. Blacks and whites were still separate even in an integrated system. There were three or four beds for "coloreds" to every 50 for white guys. Sinks, water fountains - all still designated. Truck One was a long truck with a double caboose, and T. E. Brown was the tiller man driving the back caboose. he had gotten quite good at his job, and the money was good. At the time, he was also going to school for electronics to learn to fix TV's. And as other stories go, he used his skill to his advantage. While in the firehouse waiting for calls, he was fixing TV's. All the guys, black and white, brought in their TV's to be worked on, and yep, you guessed it, he was making double the money! Realizing this could prove to be a lucrative endeavor, he shared with his brother-in-law and best buddy Jack Glaze. I remember as a kid, people saying Uncle Jack was the perfect name for him since he  was such a "Jack of all trades," as the expression goes. Jack went to school for it too, and before you knew it, they set-up a shop in the basement of the house on Myrtle Avenue! My dad started to giggle as he recalled, "Jack was brilliant at fixing things,  but he was afraid of electricity and getting shocked!" but for quite some time they would go and buy old broken TV's from the TV shops, fix them up and sell them for more. It was a great night job. This was right around the time he earned the nickname "Beaver" because he was always working and doing something to make more money. this was a name he lovingly embraced and answers to still today. He did open up a little storefront in Forest Park for the TV business, but that didn't last long.

When his sisters and all of their friends were off to college he vowed t make as much money, if not more, without a college education. Looking back, he is not proud of that conviction, but it was the driving force  behind his entrepreneurship. He started buying more and more houses, and BNM Liquors on Fulton Avenue, followed by Cookie's Liquors in East Baltimore. Many family members, including Kathy Press, Mark Glaze, Pam McNeill, Lisa (Glaze) Hunt, Renee (Glaze) King, George "Bunny" Brown, III (now Malik Bey), and others, worked at the stores at some point in their life; most while in school. He was a young guy making all kinds of money, business was stressful but good.

To relieve stress he played poker with his brother George, a bunch of other cats and Willie "Little Willie" Adams, who at the time was a lucrative businessman as well, in the business of writing numbers. For our young readers, probably including my own age group, writing numbers was basically the start of the lottery before the State took over. Little Willie also owned a club called The Casino on Pennsylvania Avenue. he was now in with the in crowd, partying and playing poker, and making money.

Those poker games with Willie Adams became more and more constant n his life. It was thrilling! Like many other things, he was good at it. So good at it that Little Willie and his cronies started "fronting" money for him to jet to Vegas, play and bring home more money. Vegas is a candy land. The lights are just part of the beauty. Stacks of chips in front of you at the table, free flowing alcohol, intoxicating air in a place where time stands still. Playing the game was challenging but most of all transformed him to fantasy land leaving the worries of everyday life behind. Penthouse rooms in the sky, champagne on ice, like the song Welcome to the Hotel California. To put it mildly, what started as a game - a distraction, was now a love affair.

I debated to leave some of the cobwebs out of the story, but then I said to myself, why? My dad has always taught me that we are the sum of our parts - good and bad. If not for some of those experiences, I'm not sure he would be the man that he is today. This guy who showed so much promise academically at a very young age, travelled a different path to brilliance. Not a day of college, and scattered days of traditional high schooling, but this student of life is much smarter than most of us will ever be. What guy knows how to build a house, fix a house inside and out, take apart and put back together televisions, build tunnels and bridges, fight fires, make shoes and repair them, cook an entire meal, so his own laundry, just short of counting cards in Black Jack, start a business and close one, sell the liquor and make a great drink with it too, balance a budget, cut a rug on the dance floor, learn and teach, and probably so much more than we'll ever know? And man has he seen some things. he lived through segregations and integration; was present at the March on Washington with Martin Luther King, Jr., the Million Man March, and definitely there in spirit at the inauguration of the country's first African-American President, a day he wasn't sure he would see in his lifetime. He has personally experienced grave racism in school, church, the army, the fire department, and in life in general. And yet he has this infectious love and admiration of life and humankind. One of the most memorable lessons from my childhood was him teaching me that hate is such an extreme emotion - one that only brings negative energy. I'm truly not sure I would be able to teach that lesson having been the victim of pointless hate as he has.

Who is Thomas Elroy Brown now? A beloved brother, father, uncle, cousin, friend, and recently added role - grandfather. I think friends and family cherish his laugh, his gentleness, stories, words of wisdom, and memories of trips on his boat (names "the Beaver"), and good times in the stores. he's the man who calls me on Sunday mornings with his bright chuckle that starts the day off right. Sometimes I get these loving messages on my voicemail of him singing Stevie Wonder's I just Called to Say I Love You! he's the man who is always there to offer advice, yet not stifle independence. He's the man who watches Meet the Press every Sunday, although he misses Tim Russet dearly, and offers his colorful commentary about the state of affairs today. he tells me his fondest memory is of February 11th , 1976 (I generally have to remind him of the year, but that's okay) when I was born. He treasures time spent with friends and family. This self-proclaimed BAD BOY says," I was 45 before I started acting like I had some sense!" He says that's about the time he began to realize the importance of making changes in his life to be a better person. And that's the biggest, most important lesson he's taught me through "preachin" as he calls it and leading by example. I'm always a work in progress. The day I stop changing - growing - is the day I leave my body.

My dad has always been my teacher, my confidant, a person I look up to - even through the years when there was distance between us. He's generous, loving and sensitive despite the miser, tough-love exterior. The older I get, the more I see him in me. For this, I write him this thank you note.

Story written by Nikole (Brown) Lowe