Ralph W. (Buster) Brown, most recently of Hudson, N.H., died on May 29, 2009. He was 94 years old.

He was born in Edgartown on March 4, 1915 to Capt. and Mrs. St. Clair Brown.

Ralph left school in his early teens to go to sea with his father but soon decided it was not meant for him. He returned to school at Tilton School for Boys in New Hampshire, and upon graduating attended Wesleyan College in Connecticut, and then transferred to Colby College in Maine, where he graduated in 1938 and received his Master’s Degree from Suffolk in 1953.

In 1944 he enlisted in the Navy and served his country in World War II and was later called from the reserves to serve during the Korean conflict.

Ralph had a 30-year career in education which took him from the classroom to superintendant of schools. After retirement he joined the State Department of Education as an assistant administrator of education in Massachusetts.

During the early years of teaching, Ralph and Howard Nickerson owned and operated the Captain’s Table in Oak Bluffs during the summer. They also owned and operated Gremlin Fog Service in the mid 1950s.

In 1974 he retired to Clearwater, Fla., where he was an active realtor and enjoyed playing tennis well into his 80’s.

Ralph and his family have resided in the Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs for 68 years.

He is survived by his three daughters and their husbands; Sandra and Frederick Cournoyer, Pamela and Richard Quimby, and Marsha and Leo Gagnon, all of Oak Bluffs. Ralph has nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, a niece, Claire Nickerson Hall, and nephew, H. William Nickerson. He is also survived by Bernice Carragher, his devoted companion of 38 years and her extended family. Ralph is predeceased by his sisters, Harriet Smith, Marie Nickerson, and his brother Paul Brown.

Services were held in Nashua, N.H. on May 13. There will be a memorial service held in his honor on Sunday, July 12 at 1 p.m. at West Side Cemetery in Edgartown.