Everett William Browning, loving husband, father, grandfather, and
professor, newspaper journalist, sailor, blacksmith, beekeeper, agricultural
extension editor, Model T mechanic, musician, dulcimer luthier, tractor collector,
fisherman, boat maker, kite-builder, Boy Scout leader, black powder
muzzle-loader aficionado, house remodeler, fry cook and bread maker, and
Padre Island snowbird, passed away at home on January 20, 2023.
Three events had profound influences on Everett’s life: long-time family
friends taking him in after Everett’s mother, Edna, died when he was four years
old, his enlistment in the Navy at age 17, and, in 1955, his marriage to Laurel
Campbell, who became his lifelong companion.
Everett was born at home on January 11, 1925, near Thedford, Nebraska.
Soon after, his family gave up trying to make a living on 640 acres of sandhill
land on the Middle Loup River and moved in 1926 to Broken Bow where his
father, George, was employed as an automobile mechanic. The Pierce family
and Browning family with adjoining homesteads in the 1890s had formed bonds
that frontier living made necessary for survival. Lincoln (Linc) and Ethel Pierce,
who had moved to a farm south of North Platte owned by Everett’s uncle Joe
Browning, asked Everett’s father to let them take Everett for the summer of
1929. He continued to live with the Pierces through high school and off and on
after, until he had established his own family.
In 1942, expecting to be drafted soon, Everett enlisted in the Navy. He
was assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station for boot camp, then
sent to Navy Diesel School at the University of Illinois. He served during World
War II on the LST 74, sailing in a huge convoy for the Mediterranean theater in
March of 1944. They saw their first action inside the Straits of Gibraltar on April
1, 1944, when the convoy was attacked by submarines, torpedo planes, and
bombers. Everett, usually assigned to maintain the ship’s engines, was
stationed at a 20 mm deck gun. Everett’s ship’s key role in the Mediterranean
campaign was to transport troops to shore in Italy and Southern France; the
shore leaves during this time brought him many rich experiences which became
favorite stories. He was honorably discharged in 1946, with a rank of Motor
Machinist (Petty Officer) Second Class.
After his service, he attended Kansas State University, earning bachelors
and masters degrees in agricultural journalism. He met Laurel Campbell while
they were in college, but they did not start dating until they were both employed
at newspapers in Omaha, Nebraska. They were married in 1955, and remained
so until Everett’s death.
In his journalism career, Everett worked for the Kansas City Star, Topeka
Journal, North Platte Telegraph, and communications jobs took him to Ft.
Collins, Colorado, and Las Cruces, New Mexico, where his work included
information services at White Sands Missile Range. In 1969 he was hired to
teach journalism at Peru State College, in Nebraska, and he continued there
until retirement in 1986.
He is survived by his wife, Laurel, son Gene and Gene’s wife Shiang
Shiang Chen, and grandchildren Amelia, Lillian, Sam, Madeline, Warren, and
Pajia, and his foster nieces and nephews: Jeanne Salerno, Charles (Chic)
Garner, Stephen Pierce, Anne McCollister, and Martha Pierce.
He was preceded in death by his eldest son, Brian, and Brian’s wife, Mary
Kay Reser, Everett’s brothers Ernest and Ellsworth, and foster sister Alice
Garner and foster brother Arthur (Art) Pierce.
Military funeral honors will be at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, TX, on Friday, Feb. 24, 1:30-2 p.m. A memorial gathering will be at the Ashford-Wellington apartments’ social hall, 600 Leah Avenue, San Marcos, TX, as well as by video conference, on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2-4 p.m. Family and friends wishing to attend by video conference can make contact to Laurel, Gene, or Everett’s phone, text, or email for the access link.
Memorial donations can made to the Peru State College Foundation by check payable to the Peru State College Foundation and noting “Everett Browning Memorial” in the memo line, or online at https://bit.ly/PeruStateGivinghttps://bit.ly/PeruStateGiving (the link is case sensitive), or to the Prairie Blacksmiths Association scholarship fund, attention Bruce Fells, Treasurer, 525 J Rd, Palmyra NE 68418.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Everett William Browning, please visit our floral store.