A Tribute to My Brother

In Loving Memory of William Brewster Marlow

1949 - 2015

Bill's life journey was far from ordinary. To those who met him in his adult years he must have seemed solemn and distant. Yet when the conversation struck him, his eyes lit up and his voice became enthusiastic and lively and I saw in him the happy little boy with whom I shared ice cream cones, bb guns, and mumps, along with adventurous travel in faraway places. His letters, yearbooks, and pictures bear witness to his energetic and spiritual nature.

He was born on October 13, 1949, at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles, California, the second child of Harry and Virginia Marlow. His father, Harry Allen Marlow, recently discharged from the United States Air Force, was working on his master's degree in Public Administration at the University of Southern California. Bill's mother, Virginia Brewster Marlow, had recently left her position as a history instructor at Pepperdine College to stay home with her young children. His sister, Gail, was four years old.

1954 brought majors changes to the Marlow family, when Harry was selected to head a team of USC professors to establish an Institute of Administrative Affairs in Tehran, Iran. Both Bill and Gail were baptized at the First Methodist Church in Inglewood on August 8th that year and underwent a whirlwind of dental work, shots, photographs, and family visits in preparation for what turned out to be six years abroad. We all flew to Washington, D.C. and then on to Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome. We had four years in Iran with a trip around the world in between. Such adventures! We rode camels, fed monkeys, and explored the ancient ruins of Knossos, the Acropolis, and Persepolis together. Bill started kindergarten at the American Dependents' School in Tehran. We moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where he spent fourth and fifth grade at the International School and learned to speak French. Later, when he went to Morocco in the seventies, he commented on what a great chance it was to use his French.

The Marlows moved to Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania in 1960, the fall that the Pirates won the World Series. Years abroad had left us ignorant of baseball and Bill and I were amazed at how excited everyone was. Bill went to sixth, seventh, and half of eighth grade in Mt. Lebanon. When the family moved back to Los Angeles in January, 1963, he finished eighth grade at Albert Monroe Junior High in Inglewood. His 1963 year book shows that he had a reputation as a smart kid. "Good luck in High School, Mr. Brain!" wrote one boy, and a girl named Judy wrote: "To a smart guy and a boy nice to know." Our ways had parted by then, for the most part, since I started college in 1962 and lived away from home most of the time.

However, even from a distance, I could see that his years at Inglewood High showed exceptional promise. He was president of the Forensic Society and received Certificate of Merit awards for outstanding performance in speech, Junior Achievement, and water polo. He was active in the French Club, music, and drama, where his roles included playing Mayor Shinn in "The Music Man" and Baptista, the father of Kate and Bianca in "Taming of the Shrew." I saw him in a summer production of the Rodgers and Hart musical "Babes in Arms," and attended the high school Fine Arts banquet where he was instrumental in getting science fiction author Ray Bradbury as a speaker. On April 30, 1966, he was a groomsman at my wedding at Holy Faith Episcopal Church.

His graduation year was 1967, a time when every young man was acutely aware of his draft status. The student protests against the Vietnam War and the "establishment" in general were fervent and intensely felt. Although I don't remember Bill being particularly political, he was clearly affected by the disenchantment of his time, the growing rebellion of youth, the culture of drug use, and increasingly by his own internal voices. Those closest to him saw a change which we were unable to understand. He completed 12 units at the University of Southern California, with a major in Theater Arts, taking Drama, Geology, and Introduction to International Relations, but he never completed his second semester.

In 1967, I was married, pregnant and living at home while my husband Charles was serving in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam. Bill was exceptionally kind to me and took me to Westwood to see the foreign films we both enjoyed. We shared a love of books and frequented used book stores. He showed me an entire set of Dickens which I bought for ten dollars. We read A Christmas Carol out loud together in December of 1967.

Although he dropped out of USC, he was able to transfer the units to Cal State Long Beach, where he was accepted for the fall of 1968. But he never completed any courses there. One of his letters shows that by 1970 he had embraced Buddhism and was living in Morocco, but had decided to return home and do alternative service. Back in the States, he succeeded in getting Contentious Objector status and did hospital work at Hemet and worked for the forestry service in northern California. He left the country again in 1973, traveling to Mexico, Belize, England, and Morocco. He was officially released from alternative service on April 19, 1973, due to "psychiatric disorders." In 1974 the American Consulate in Casablanca notified his parents that he had been hospitalized in Agadir, Morocco. My father and I flew to Morocco and brought him home for psychiatric treatment.

His family continued to hold hope for his healing and his future. He attended College of the Desert briefly, studying horticulture and worked for a while as a groundskeeper at Desert Sun School in Idyllwild. He met and fell in love with Robin Brizendine, and they were married in a peaceful forest setting with





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