Wade Edward Brown

dies at age 101

By Scott Nicholson

Wade Brown, former Boone mayor and business leader, died Monday at the age of 101.

Brown was born in Blowing Rock in 1907. He was educated in the one-room Silver Lake School, completed Mars Hill Junior College, and received his law degree from Wake Forest College. He passed his bar examination before he graduated from the law school at Wake Forest University in 1931.

He returned to Boone and opened his law practice in Boone in 1931, where he quickly became involved in civic activities and economic development. An original signer of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce charter, Brown was instrumental in the development and expansion of the Boone Golf Course, Watauga Medical Center and Horn in the West, the new Watauga County Library, and other community and educational endeavors.

He served in the North Carolina Senate and House of Representatives and was mayor of Boone from 1961 to 1967. His autobiography "Recollections and Reflections" was released in 1997, serving as one of the most illuminating local histories of the last century.

He was prominent in the development of Boone Golf Course, even writing a book about it. The golf course was established by Brown in 1959, and the next year became the site of one of the first ski areas.

Brown recalled strapping on a pair of old, wooden skis and being photographed skiing down the golf course one winter, which helped spark local interest in the ski industry.

"He was foundational not just to the chamber but also to the community," said Boone Area Chamber of Commerce director Dan Meyer. "He had a great wealth stories."

The chamber has a community-recognition award given out annually in Brown's name. Meyer said Brown was one of the last remaining of the generation of people who had helped build the High Country's economic and tourism base.

Brown was the author of “Recollections and Reflections,” an autobiographical memoir that is one of the best local histories documenting the area’s last century.

"He just seemed to me to be one of the leaders," said former Boone Mayor Velma Burnley. "He was known far and wide and respected by everyone. It's the passing of a great era.

"He was a talker, but more than that he was an encourager. He was a role model."

His small downtown office is now the home of the Downtown Boone Development Association. Another lasting monument is his granting of a conservation easement for a 31-acre parcel on Big Yarnall Mountain overlooking the Boone Golf Course.

The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Austin & Barnes Funeral Home. See the obituary page for more details.