LeRoy Brown (83) was born in Longmont Colorado to Wilburn Sutton Brown and Gladys Fern Price Brown. He moved to Idaho with his family when he was 3 years old. LeRoy graduated from Caldwell High School in 1961. He then went to the University of Idaho in Moscow and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1966. In 1964, he married Lana Heuple in Saint Maries, Idaho. They had 3 children, Jason Jay, Kirsten Kay, and Shannon Lea. They were later divorced. During his time at U of I, he enrolled in the ROTC program, then entered the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1967. He went to Fort Knox, Kentucky for the Officers course and then to Fort Rucker, Alabama for Helicopter training. On Feb 4, 1969, he was sent to Vietnam where he served for 13 months. Upon returning, he moved from Sandpoint, Idaho, surrendered his commission and entered the Idaho National Guard. He served as an Instructor Pilot in the military and served for 23 years. LeRoy served as a project manager for Idaho Easter Seals, and managed the Easter Seals Telethon from Idaho Falls, where he met Tina Stratford Gunter. She moved to Boise in 1980, and they were married in 1985 in Reno, Nevada. She had 2 children from a previous marriage—Jocelyn Jean and Melissa.

LeRoy joined Idaho Helicopters, Inc (IHI) in 1979, and spent his years flying contract work, primarily for the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service. He loved the natural resource work, especially fighting fires and capturing sheep, elk, deer, and wild horses, and counting drumming grouse. He also flew on a project to help drain surplus water from the Great Salt Lake to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Bonneville Power Company contracted him to fly the path of high voltage transmission lines from Wyoming to Oregon to identify trees which might be growing into the power lines. Another of his favorite projects was flying the path of the Oregon Trail from South Dakota to Oregon. While at IHI he was instrumental in setting up the contracts and negotiations for the first Life Flight at St. Alphonsus Hospital in 2000. He later assisted in setting up the Flight for Life helicopter for St. Luke’s in 2002. He retired from Idaho Helicopters in 2006. Hillcrest Helicopters in Lewiston, Idaho, then contracted LeRoy to work as a pilot to fly their government contracts. He retired from flying in 2009. After retirement, LeRoy and Tina did as much traveling as possible. Their first out of the country destination was South Africa where they went to meet Tina’s pen pal of many years. After 3 trips to Australia, LeRoy declared that as his favorite, but he also enjoyed Scotland, India, the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy.

One of the things he loved most was when people recognized his name from the Jim Croce song Bad, Bad LeRoy Brown. While others might not have appreciated the attention, he embraced it, and in his final years enjoyed introducing himself as “Bad Bad.”

LeRoy is survived by his wife, Tina Stratford-Brown; his children Jason (Michele) Brown, Kirsten (Lynn) Solmon, Shannon Mohanty; his stepchildren Jocelyn Jean (Jake) Davis, and Melissa Gunter Olson; 9 grandchildren Jessica Ann (Vicky), Justin John, Samir Sekhar, Armaan Shaan, Neesha Lana, Avery Lynn, Olivia Mae, Anaise Mariah, and Shelby Emmy; and one great grandchild, Aven Mattix.

In lieu of flowers, please make Memorial Gift donations in LeRoy’s name to Idaho Public Televsion .

A service will be held at Idaho State Veterans Cemetery, 10100 N. Horseshoe Bend Road, at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. The service will also be live streamed on LeRoy’s obituary page on Bowman's website.. A Celebration of Life will follow at 12:00 p.m. at Rally Point Club & Events at Gowen Field in Boise. Access to the base requires photo identification. For those who do not already have a military ID, please complete the RSVP form located here or by scanning the below QR code.