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From 1978 through 1989, Tim Brown considered Fallon his home town.
A top-level diplomat at the U.S. Department of State, Brown traveled the world on special assignments that took him to Latin America, Europe and Asia.
But he returned to Fallon when he had the chance to visit his mother, Frances Milum, and his stepdad, Bill.
"Fallon was home base for me during those years," says Brown who noted that his mother, now a resident of Sparks, was active in the Fallon Soroptomists and other women's groups.
Stepfather Bill, an Army veteran, was affiliated with Churchill County veterans' organizations and upon his death was buried in the veterans' section of the Fallon Cemetery.
Even on his brief visits here, Brown was unable to shake his responsibilities as a career diplomat.
"Sometimes I'd be relaxing with my mother and stepfather and the State Department telephoned me, instructing me to get over to the Fallon Naval Air Station to read secret, coded cables and messages relating to my current overseas assignment," he said.
"Once I got to NAS Fallon I was directed to a secure room where I read the State Dept. messages. The Cold War was on at the time, and it would have been unheard of for me to receive those messages on unsecured civilian phone lines or through the mail," he said.
A top-level diplomat at the U.S. Department of State, Brown traveled the world on special assignments that took him to Latin America, Europe and Asia.
But he returned to Fallon when he had the chance to visit his mother, Frances Milum, and his stepdad, Bill.
"Fallon was home base for me during those years," says Brown who noted that his mother, now a resident of Sparks, was active in the Fallon Soroptomists and other women's groups.
Stepfather Bill, an Army veteran, was affiliated with Churchill County veterans' organizations and upon his death was buried in the veterans' section of the Fallon Cemetery.
Even on his brief visits here, Brown was unable to shake his responsibilities as a career diplomat.
"Sometimes I'd be relaxing with my mother and stepfather and the State Department telephoned me, instructing me to get over to the Fallon Naval Air Station to read secret, coded cables and messages relating to my current overseas assignment," he said.
"Once I got to NAS Fallon I was directed to a secure room where I read the State Dept. messages. The Cold War was on at the time, and it would have been unheard of for me to receive those messages on unsecured civilian phone lines or through the mail," he said.
Today, 66-year old Tim Brown lives in Gardnerville with his wife, Leda.
The father of four and grandparent of seven, Brown is retired from the U.S. Foreign Service and today heads a new program at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village which aims to develop a new generation of diplomats who can, like himself, represent this and other nations in the capitals and hotspots of the world.
There's no doubt that Brown's 27 years in diplomacy as well as his ten years as a U.S. Marine serving abroad make him the ideal person to lead this important academic venture at prestigious Sierra Nevada College.
The recipient of a BA in international relations at UNR, the equivalent of a master's degree from the State Department's Foreign Service Institute, and a Ph.D. in history and international studies from New Mexico State University, Brown has served in diplomatic posts on every continent.
Fluent in Thai, Spanish and French, Brown has been shot at, bombed and marked for assassination from the Philippines to Nicaragua. His life reads like a James Bond adventure.
But he's also a serious scholar, the author of several books on international relations and articles in newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, and is a Research Fellow at Stanford University's renowned Hoover Institution.
Brown's initial exposure to the world's trouble spots, he told me as we chatted on patio of his Gardnerville home, began with his service with the Marines.
Serving in a liaison capacity with the Philippine Army, which was battling units of the Huk guerrilla insurgency, Brown saw at first-hand what a comparatively small but dedicated anti-democratic political movement can inflict upon a budding democracy.
The father of four and grandparent of seven, Brown is retired from the U.S. Foreign Service and today heads a new program at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village which aims to develop a new generation of diplomats who can, like himself, represent this and other nations in the capitals and hotspots of the world.
There's no doubt that Brown's 27 years in diplomacy as well as his ten years as a U.S. Marine serving abroad make him the ideal person to lead this important academic venture at prestigious Sierra Nevada College.
The recipient of a BA in international relations at UNR, the equivalent of a master's degree from the State Department's Foreign Service Institute, and a Ph.D. in history and international studies from New Mexico State University, Brown has served in diplomatic posts on every continent.
Fluent in Thai, Spanish and French, Brown has been shot at, bombed and marked for assassination from the Philippines to Nicaragua. His life reads like a James Bond adventure.
But he's also a serious scholar, the author of several books on international relations and articles in newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, and is a Research Fellow at Stanford University's renowned Hoover Institution.
Brown's initial exposure to the world's trouble spots, he told me as we chatted on patio of his Gardnerville home, began with his service with the Marines.
Serving in a liaison capacity with the Philippine Army, which was battling units of the Huk guerrilla insurgency, Brown saw at first-hand what a comparatively small but dedicated anti-democratic political movement can inflict upon a budding democracy.
In Thailand, where he became proficient in its language, and in Nicaragua, where he perfected his knowledge of Spanish, Brown continued his Marine Corps service, often under dangerous circumstances.
"When I was on duty at the U.S. embassy at Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, shots were fired at the embassy entrance where I was standing. The bullets missed me but the windows shattered, showering glass all over me," he said matter-of-factly.
Following his USMC service, he took the State Dept. Foreign Service examination and passed on the first attempt. Then he was off again on a myriad of assignments in diplomatic postings around the world.
On a mission to Viet Nam, Brown was shot at by "some bad guys" as he was riding in a Jeep. "I was lucky. They didn't get me," he said.
In Honduras, he survived a helicopter crash.
In French Guiana in the northern part of South America, Brown got caught in a nasty battle between revolutionaries seeking independence and the French Foreign Legion.
Once again, he escaped unscathed.
On the Caribbean island of Martinique, where he served as U.S. Consul General, Brown survived the bombing of his office that was carried out by a pro-Fidel Castro independence movement.
"When I was on duty at the U.S. embassy at Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, shots were fired at the embassy entrance where I was standing. The bullets missed me but the windows shattered, showering glass all over me," he said matter-of-factly.
Following his USMC service, he took the State Dept. Foreign Service examination and passed on the first attempt. Then he was off again on a myriad of assignments in diplomatic postings around the world.
On a mission to Viet Nam, Brown was shot at by "some bad guys" as he was riding in a Jeep. "I was lucky. They didn't get me," he said.
In Honduras, he survived a helicopter crash.
In French Guiana in the northern part of South America, Brown got caught in a nasty battle between revolutionaries seeking independence and the French Foreign Legion.
Once again, he escaped unscathed.
On the Caribbean island of Martinique, where he served as U.S. Consul General, Brown survived the bombing of his office that was carried out by a pro-Fidel Castro independence movement.
Brown considers his most important diplomatic assignment as that of senior State Dept. liaison officer to the Nicaraguan Democratic Resistance (the Contras) in Central America and to the United Nations Cease Fire Observation Force there from 1987 to 1990.
He also has served as State Dept. Cuban affairs deputy coordinator, NATO economic adviser, and in other assignments in Israel, Spain, Mexico, Paraguay, El Salvador, France and the Netherlands.
Today, as Chairman of Sierra Nevada College's International Studies Dept. and as Director of its new Diplomatic Academy at Tahoe, Brown is charged with educating some of this generation's U.S. and foreign diplomats in the only undergraduate program of its type in the United States.
Joined by a faculty of other former diplomats, including fellow Hoover Fellow William Ratliff, former UNR international relations professor Richard Ganzel, and John H. Penfold who served as deputy U.S. ambassador to New Zealand, Portugal and Honduras, Tim Brown told me that among his current students are a Miskito Indian whose father was a top Nicaragua Contra leader, a young Chinese who is now a U.S. Marine, and a Mexican-American from Winnemucca whose father was a field hand.
Students in the program will attend international conferences and help coordinate visits to the college by world leaders such as former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the first female to head the government of an Islamic state, who will speak on campus Sept. 30.
Interest in world affairs has arrived in Northern Nevada, and it is gratifying to learn that Dr. Tim Brown and his new program in diplomacy at Sierra Nevada College are leading the charge.
Caption:
Former Fallonite and diplomat Dr. Timothy C. Brown, chairman of Sierra Nevada College's International Studies Dept. and Director of its new Diplomatic Academy at Tahoe, churns up the earth on his tractor at his home in Gardnerville. Photo by David C. Henley
He also has served as State Dept. Cuban affairs deputy coordinator, NATO economic adviser, and in other assignments in Israel, Spain, Mexico, Paraguay, El Salvador, France and the Netherlands.
Today, as Chairman of Sierra Nevada College's International Studies Dept. and as Director of its new Diplomatic Academy at Tahoe, Brown is charged with educating some of this generation's U.S. and foreign diplomats in the only undergraduate program of its type in the United States.
Joined by a faculty of other former diplomats, including fellow Hoover Fellow William Ratliff, former UNR international relations professor Richard Ganzel, and John H. Penfold who served as deputy U.S. ambassador to New Zealand, Portugal and Honduras, Tim Brown told me that among his current students are a Miskito Indian whose father was a top Nicaragua Contra leader, a young Chinese who is now a U.S. Marine, and a Mexican-American from Winnemucca whose father was a field hand.
Students in the program will attend international conferences and help coordinate visits to the college by world leaders such as former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the first female to head the government of an Islamic state, who will speak on campus Sept. 30.
Interest in world affairs has arrived in Northern Nevada, and it is gratifying to learn that Dr. Tim Brown and his new program in diplomacy at Sierra Nevada College are leading the charge.
Caption:
Former Fallonite and diplomat Dr. Timothy C. Brown, chairman of Sierra Nevada College's International Studies Dept. and Director of its new Diplomatic Academy at Tahoe, churns up the earth on his tractor at his home in Gardnerville. Photo by David C. Henley
