Former Streator man among five crewman killed in collison

By Melissa Garzanelli For The Times-Press

Gulfport – A former Streator man was among thefive crewman killed Saturday when two ships collided in the Mississippi River south of New Orleans, La.

Joseph Brow, 44, was aboard the 178-foot supply boat Lee III when it sank in the river’s main shipping channel after colliding with a container ship.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

Brown was born and raised in Streator, graduating from Streator Township High School, thee leaving the area at 20 years of age to work on off-shore shipping vessels.

“He worked off-shore for 24 years. He was overseas for quite a while, too. He worked all over the world,” said brother Bob Brown of Streator, in a telephone interview from Gulfport, Miss., on Thursday.

Bob Brown received a call at 10 a.m. Saturday, alerting him that his brother was among the missing after the collision. 

“Five crewmen went down. Two of those were never found, but three were found. One of them was my brother,” said Brown.

The identities of the four other crewmen were Lawrence Glass, 65, of Mobile, Ala.; Daniel Perez, 31, of Port Arthur, Texas; Ramon Norward, 27, of Galveston, Texas; and Baldemar Villereal, 54, of Lake Jackson, Texas.

Bob Brown said his brother had been a longtime resident of Gulfport, where their mother, Carol Berry, also resides. He had recently moved to Vidor, Texas, where his daughter, Melissa, lives with her mother. A sister, Debra Maughan, also lives in Texas.

Funeral services are scheduled for Sunday in Vidor.

Bob Brown said that even with the dangers of working on shipping vessels, he had not expected his brother to die in a shipping accident.

“Once when he was overseas, he almost died from black malaria,” recalled Brown. “We didn’t expect him to ever go down on a ship. We thought it would be something else.”