Esther Gail (Hitchcock) Brown

Esther Gail Brown

August 3, 1939 - July 12, 2024

Esther Gail Brown (née Hitchcock), 84,  passed away on Friday, July 12, 2024, at Canyon Vista Medical Center in Sierra Vista, Arizona at the age of 84.

Gail was born to the late Cecil and Susie Hitchcock of Volga, Kentucky on August 3, 1939, the youngest of five siblings. She was raised in the mountains of rural Appalachia, and spent her earliest years working on the family farm and going to school in nearby Paintsville.

Gail graduated from Oil Springs High School in 1958 and Big Sandy Community College in 1960 before taking a job with Erie Army Depot in Port Clinton, Ohio. There she would meet and later marry the love of her life, James Herbert Brown of Marshall, Illinois.

In 1965, the couple would move to Huntsville, Alabama, where Gail would give birth to their only child. She also worked for United States Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal as a clerk typist. The family would eventually settle down in Sierra Vista in 1968, where her husband would work for the Department of the Army at Fort Huachuca until his death in 1998.

As a stay-at-home mother, Gail was heavily involved in her son’s upbringing and education until he went off to college. She then returned to work for the Department of the Army, working various jobs at the Fort Huachuca Civilian Personnel Office, the United States Army Electronic Proving Ground, and the Technology Integration Center, Army Information Systems Engineering Command. She retired from the federal civil service in 2004, but eventually returned to work as an electronics technician for various defense contractors, performing field testing on a variety of classified projects. At the time of her passing, she may have been the only octogenarian in America to hold both a Top Secret/SCI security clearance and an Army HMMWV driver’s license (with trailer endorsement).

Gail was also actively involved with her community, having served on the local chapter of the American Cancer Society, the Bella Vista Elementary School Parent Teacher Association, and the Buena High School Band Supporters, among others. She enjoyed bowling and tennis in her younger years, and traveled extensively with her family across the Southwest for most of her life.

Gail is survived by her son, Robert Wayne Brown of Flagstaff, Arizona, and by her grandson, Nathan James Brown of Edmonton, Alberta. She will be remembered for her unconditional love of her friends and family, for her love of her community, and for an undying passion for miniature schnauzers.

A celebration of Gail’s life will be held on Saturday, July 27, 2024 at 11:00 A.M. at the Hatfield Funeral Home, 830 S. Highway 92, Sierra Vista, Arizona, with a reception to be held off site immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her memory to the Nancy J. Brua Animal Care Center in Sierra Vista, or to the Santa Cruz Humane Society in Nogales, Arizona.

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