No sooner had I returned from Robert Anton Wilson’s memorial service in Santa Cruz when I received the following word from Brian Hall, organizer of the Conspiracy Conference in San Jose:

Teri Brown who, along with her husband Bob Brown, was the co-organizer behind the annual INTERNATIONAL UFO CONGRESS, which has been holding week-long events in Las Vegas, Mesquite and Laughlin, NV for over 15 years. Teri finally succumbed to cancer and died in the hospital yesterday (2/26) at 1pm. The UFO Congress is still going on as this was apparently one of Teri's final wishes. To contact Teri's family and the UFO Congress, email ufocongress@msn.com.

    I met Teri on many occasions and had always considered her one half of the team that figured out the UFO mystery and what best to do with it, at least as much as anyone whoever spoke at the IUFO Cons ever did. Whatever it might have to do with alien abductions, secret aerospace technology and government cover ups, UFOs provide a reason to gather together a global community of dissent to talk about experiences that have no other forum for expression. Teri and her husband Bob understood that these expressions--and these experiencers—needed a stage and they built one.

    My one documented UFO encounter happened at Area 51 near Laughlin around the time of the 1992 IUFO Con. It appears in the Steamshovel anthology Popular Alienation and is discussed in the book Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51 by Phil Patton. Then and in many subsequent years my experiences in and around Nevada’s UFO buzz space were tempered with Teri’s down-to-earth charm and her sense of humor.

    My chats with Teri often came after her husband Bob walked off, eyes poking over his glasses, trying to find the answer to some inane inquiry I’d thrown at him. Teri served as a tether for her husband and a gracious host in pre-occupying, deflecting and explaining the grand IUFOCon circus not only to me but the hundreds of other attendees. I’m sure that the aggravations I caused were quite minor compared the internecine warfare the Browns endured from their many eccentric speakers, crazy conference goers and venders, not to mention hotel management.

    With all the weirdness that happens at IUFOCon, a newbie might have felt more compelled to run away screaming than ever to return. With Bob and Teri, however, I felt as if I had entered the ultimate book store of obscure UFOlogy, the hunt for which had otherwise occupied many of my hours here on earth. Here were more books and more video than any bookstore, but also a gawd-for-certain scene where UFOlogy was current, and its contemporary practitioners from around the world held court. And at the heart of it all was the really nice, normal couple.

    Other UFO conferences existed, of course, but none of them have had the durability of the IUFOCon nor the position as a pillar around this important current in the parapolitical/paranormal sea. Teri deserves great credit for that, and for bringing the smile of safe-haven to IUFO Con’s community of quixotic ufologists, among whom her presence always will be felt.