Bill was born March 3, 1939, at his family’s home on Main Street in Salem, Nebraska, to William Andrew Browne Sr. and Norma Easter Lila Wickham Browne. He grew up playing every sport available to him, and he especially enjoyed fishing for catfish and carp with his father.
He also helped at the family’s grocery store, Browne’s Grocery, also on Main Street in Salem. He ran errands, stocked shelves and candled eggs brought in by local farmers.
“Somebody always tried to pass off bad eggs. They’d put ‘em in the bottom of the box.”
In high school, Bill starred in football, basketball and track for Salem High School’s Bobcats, playing quarterback on the football team and leading the basketball team in scoring. In the summer, he played baseball for the Falls City Legion team. He graduated in 1956, but not before he met the love of his life, Elaine Esther Fritz, who was a student at Verdon High School at the time.
Bill went to Lincoln to attend Nebraska Wesleyan University and play baseball for the Plainsmen. Elaine joined him in Lincoln in 1957, living in the Chi Omega sorority house at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before the two were married on August 15, 1959 at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, six miles north of Falls City.
The two settled into a duplex for a couple of years, welcoming their beautiful daughter, Cindy, on January 13, 1961, and then moving into their house on Terrace Road a year later — exactly five days before their son Jeff’s birth on Jan. 25, 1962.
Bill graduated from NWU in 1960, and soon thereafter landed a job as a claims adjuster at Woodman Accident and Life Company in downtown Lincoln. He was a diligent worker for Woodmen for 40 years, moving up in the ranks several times over that tenure.
Bill and Elaine joined Faith Lutheran Church in Lincoln even before the birth of their children, and they remained faithful members for the rest of their lives. Bill served as an elder and on several call committees searching for pastors.
Bill never gave up sports, and he was a star performer on Woodman’s softball, basketball and bowling teams. In addition, he played AAA fast-pitch softball for several teams, and he cherished playing basketball and softball for Faith.
Yet fishing is the sport that captivated him up until his last year of life. And among his favorite fishing expeditions were the bass fishing trips with his beloved son-in-law, Michael Lynn Schmidt.
He also served for nearly 35 years as a football and basketball official, calling hundreds of high school football games from his umpire position in the middle of the defense. It wasn’t the safest place to be, but Bill always wanted to be part of the action.
After his officiating career, he spent his autumn weekends at Seacrest Field, just down the road, where he watched generations of Lincoln’s high school football stars. When he wasn’t at Seacrest, he attended the myriad games and meets of his brothers-in-law and then his adopted “grandchildren” — his nieces and nephews. Who would drive an hour or more to watch a Class D JV basketball game or a Class C football game coached by his nephew? Uncle Bill, that’s who.
What shall we remember most about Bill? The sweet jumpshot? That devilish grin? The tackle boxes full of crank bait and worms? “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” on the trumpet? That high-fashion referee uniform? All of that. And more: his love for Elaine, his impact on his children, his generosity, his dedication to Woodman and Faith … and his constructive criticism of Nebraska’s football team over the decades.
Bill was preceded in death by Elaine, who passed on Nov. 12, 2021; his parents, and his half-sister, Norma Jean Wittwer Lock Adams. He is survived by his daughter, Cindy Schmidt, and her husband, Michael Schmidt, of Lincoln; and his son, Jeff Browne, and his wife, Susannah Neal of Iowa City, Iowa.
Visitation will be held on Tuesday, May 10 from 5pm-7pm at Roper and Sons South Chapel.
His funeral is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 11 at Faith Lutheran Church, 8701 Adams St. in Lincoln. Interment will follow at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery, six miles north of Falls City, Nebraska.