Browns to reign as king, queen

 Harry and Nancy Brown were crowned Saturday night as king and queen of the 2013 Winter Carnival.

Harry Brown will reign as King Ullr LIV and Nancy Brown is Queen of the Snows.

The couple have lived in Whitefish since 1978 and have been active in a host of business and civic ventures.

Harry Brown, Tim Grattan and others developed Lion Mountain and, along with Gary Elliott, developed Sun Crest in Whitefish. 

Brown subsequently was one of the owners of the Palace Bar, Dos Amigos, Little Big Men in Kalispell and the Montana Pie Co. in Missoula. 

Over the years he has been involved in Congenials, Winter Carnival, helped coach Whitefish High School tennis and was an assistant coach of the Whitefish seventh- and eighth-grade football program for several years. 

He is on the advisory board of the Whitefish Community Foundation and is a member of the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce. 

The Browns contributed to the control room for the Whitefish Performing Arts Center and helped finance the construction of The Wave. They assist with the ongoing operations of the Alpine Theatre Project and the Whitefish Theatre Company.

Nancy Brown worked for many years at the First National Bank of Whitefish (now Glacier Bank).

She serves on the Events Committee of the Whitefish Community Foundation.

A ski trip to Whitefish in 1971 convinced Harry that “he wanted to walk away from his corporate chief financial officer job in Chicago and move” to the ski town.

He then became president and chief executive officer of a Chicago bank, so it  wasn’t until six years later that they moved to Whitefish — with three children and no jobs at the time.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Harry served aboard a ship during the Korean War, then attended Penn State University starting in 1954.

According to his biography, “having been discouraged from walking onto the football team, he became a four-year starter on the PSU Lacrosse team.”

He played lacrosse until he was 45, competed into the mid-rounds of the National Platform Tennis Championship Tournaments and his team placed third in the National Senior Softball Championships.

It was at Penn State that Harry met Nancy — “the very first girl that he ever spoke to in college.” They were married two weeks after college graduation and then embarked on Harry’s banking career that took them to Louisville, Ky.; Pittsburgh; Grosse Pointe, Mich.; and Glenview, Ill. Along the way, Harry received his Master’s of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Pittsburgh.

He was a contributing author to The Banker’s Handbook and spoke at several American Bankers Association conferences.

Nancy grew up in Summit, N.J., and after their children were in school went to work selling real estate for several years. She later became an executive secretary for a large power company.

The couple are delighted that all three of their children, plus all seven grandchildren and one grandson-in-law, live in the Flathead Valley.

Harry and Nancy Brown will reign over events at the 54th annual Whitefish Winter Carnival Feb. 1-3. Pre-carnival festivities include the Jan. 26 World Skijoring Championships in Whitefish.

For more information on events, check out the Whitefish Winter Carnival on Facebook or online at www.whitefishwintercarnival.com or call 862-3501.