Wild Child-Fletcher Brown

Fletcher Brown in Boise, Idaho in 1932

Rattlesnakes, rattlesnakes…everybody get out! Chaos erupted. The music and dancing stopped and everybody did all they could to get out of the barn, including smashing through the wooden sides.

Fletcher Brown is my grandmother’s (from my mother’s side) youngest brother. He was somewhat of a wild child. The first stunt we heard about him, involved the community barn dance. In the Boise area, barn dances were a social staple for the locals. Fletcher decided to challenge himself and captured a live rattle snake and attached it to the crown of his hat. He then tried to see how many girls would be willing to dance with him. He must not have had any takers, because the next time, he outdid himself. Before the dance, Fletcher captured a gunnysack of rattlesnakes. He had supposedly de-fanged them before putting them in the sack. That night, at the dance, he released the rattlesnakes in the middle of the dance floor and watched the chaos. The barn quickly had holes in the walls where there had been no exit before. Fletcher had to head for the hills and stay there for many months, so certain locals did not kill him or do him serious harm.

Fletcher had two marriages and two children by each wife. An infant was born in 1949 and did not survive. It is buried in the Brown family plot in Meridian, Idaho. I am guessing at this as the sexton said the sixth mystery grave was an infant and part of the Brown family. 

Larry, Fletcher’s youngest son, told another tale about his father. Fletcher’s older brother, Charles Brown had married and had two children. They ended up in Texas where the marriage was failing and Charles had cancer. Charles left Texas and did a long tour back to Idaho. Our mother, Melva, remembers Charles stopping by and visiting a few days with her father in California. Melva said, after realizing later he was traveling back to his family, that Charles was stopping by to say goodby. Charles underwent what treatment was available in 1934. According to Larry, Charles was in horrible pain and the family had gathered at the hospital to visit him one at a time. Fletcher was 26 at the time and hated seeing his older brother in such pain. Right after Fletcher had his turn visiting, a nurse went in to check on Charles and found that he had died. Larry is convinced his father put Charles out of his misery via a smothering pillow.

Fletcher had a failing heart and had an early heart transplant in Boise in 1951. The operation was considered a success as the new heart started functioning but Fletcher only lasted a few days after and died at age 43. Fletcher is buried in Meridian in the Brown family plot. He might be buried but his tales live on.

480 words

Donna Shreve and Brian Swagerty

10/29/2025

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