William B. Brown

retired funeral director and former co-owner, Smith Family Funeral Chapels, Billings and Columbus, Montana, died June 4, 2024, at age 102. As a young man, Brown worked as a pipe welder, and in 1943, he enlisted in the Navy Seabees and was a deep-sea diver in the South Pacific. Brown attended Rocky Mountain College and graduated from San Francisco College of Mortuary Science, after which he entered a partnership of funeral directors and co-owned the Smith funeral chapels. He served on the Montana State Board of Funeral Directors for five years. Brown is survived by wife Marjie, stepdaughters Joni and Janet, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.