Obituary of Courtney W. Brown

Dr. Courtney W. Brown 

Dr. Courtney W. Brown, 87, passed away on Nov. 15, 2022, after a brief illness with COVID-19.   He is survived by his loving wife of 61 years, Ingrid, daughter Dara Tallmadge (spouse Scot), sons Courtney Brown, Trevor Brown, grandsons Myles Tallmadge, Dashell Tallmadge, sisters Joanne Lyman, Roxanne Warren, nephew Christopher Finney (spouse Diane), niece Suzanne Finney.

Courtney was born in New York City and spent most of his childhood and adolescence in Scarsdale, New York, and Washington D. C.  He graduated from Scarsdale High School and later from Williams College in Massachusetts.  He intended to join corporate management, and, in fact, had an internship arranged with a major corporation.  On the eve of his graduation from Williams, he mentioned to his sister that he had always wanted to be a doctor.  She said “Then do it.”  He did and in the blink of an eye, he switched from business to medicine.  He went on to graduate from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and did his internship and residencies at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City. 

He married Ingrid in the early 60s.  During the Vietnam War, he served in the United States Air Force, first at Orlando Air Force Base and then a year at U-Tapao Air Force Base in Thailand.  Upon his discharge he and his family traveled the West, visiting various cities and medical practices.  They decided to make Colorado their home, because to hear him tell it, it was for “want of lack of a sweater”, that Denver was chosen; he didn’t want to have to wear a sweater in the summer during his golf games.

He joined Lakewood Orthopedic Clinic in 1970, which adopted the name Panorama Orthopedic and Spine Center when it moved to Golden, in 2000.  He worked for them for some 40 years specializing in spine.  Even though he officially retired in 2008, he continued to see patients for some time, particularly those at Craig Hospital.

Courtney was a member of American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons, and Scoliosis Research Society where he was its president in 1999.

He loved skiing and founded Blue River Trauma Society which combined helicopter skiing in Canada with medical seminars. For several years he volunteered for the U.S Ski Team, which found him on the slopes during their ski races willing to assist in case of injury.  In the summers, his passion was golf – often in special and exotic places, and he was a member of Lakewood Country Club and Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, AZ.

Along the way, Courtney and Ingrid travelled the world: almost all the nations in Europe including St. Andrews, Scotland (the birth place of golf), numerous countries in the Orient, Australia and New Zealand, Turkey, the Baltic states, and Russia.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Food Bank of the Rockies.