Marathon resort owner, wife, child die in plane crash

A Marathon resort owner, his wife and son died in a plane crash in Montana on Saturday.

Timothy Brown, 64, Tricia Verhelle-Brown, 45, and their 13-year-old son Theodore “Teddy” Brown perished in the crash 12 miles south of Boyes, Mont., where a rancher found them in the rural area around 12:10 p.m., according to Carter County Sheriff Neil Kittelman.

The Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron was en route from Billings, Mont., to Rapid City, S.D., according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Billings is the closest city to the crash site, Kittelman said. The 1974 six-seat plane was registered under the name Tropical Isle Resort Inc., according to flight tracker website FlightAware.com.

Brown was the owner of the Kingsail Resort in Marathon and the Seashell Beach Resort on Grassy Key, along with two other hotels in Michigan. Brown’s body was sent to the Montana state medical examiner in Billings for an autopsy while the Stevenson Funeral Home out of Mile City, Mont., retrieved the bodies of Tricia and Teddy from the crash site, he added.

Denise M. Michaels commented on a Billings CBS News affiliate video about the crash that she is the cousin of Tricia, and the Browns lived part of the year in northwest Michigan and the rest of the year in the Florida Keys.

“She and Tim were very happily married and traveled all over the world together,” Michaels wrote. “They have another son named Tim, 15, who didn't make the trip. He stayed home with relatives and is the only surviving family member. We are reeling and stunned with the news of their deaths.”

In 2014, Tim Brown penned a memoir titled “Hotelman: Behind the Elegance.” It describes how he left his career in a Chicago law firm after earning two degrees from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Notre Dame, returning to work at his father’s resort in Harbor Springs, Mich., in the 1960s.

Brown eventually bought the Colonial Inn from his father, and later purchased the Holiday Inn Express and the Breakers Resort in St. Ignace, Mich., on top of the two resorts in Marathon, according to various news sources.

Brown and his son, Timmy, who survives, made it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on March 26, 2015. It took them 10 days to reach the summit, which is one of the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.

Tricia was an accomplished artist who won awards for her watercolor paintings in various contests at the Key West Art Center and Gallery, according to their Facebook page.

The NTSB will investigate the crash and a representative said preliminary results could be available as soon as next week.

This story was originally published September 19, 2016 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Marathon resort owner, wife, child die in plane crash."