Loved by his family and friends, Tyrel Corrigan Brown’s intelligence, talent and compassion left unforgettable impressions on the lives of all he knew.
Skilled in mathematics, Tyrel was an engineering freshman, but his intellect continued far beyond his major. Tyrel had a deep appreciation for the arts — he loved to play piano, play guitar and also enjoyed painting and drawing. Most importantly, Tyrel had a passion for his faith and loved his family dearly.
Tyrel’s father Roger Brown said he stayed active with sports, art and video games.
“He loved playing basketball,” Roger said. “And of course he loved playing basketball on the PlayStation too. The hobby me and his mom liked the most was he played the piano very, very well. Just before his passing he was also learning to play the guitar.”
Roger said since Tyrel had just joined the Aggie family he had not decided exactly what career path he wanted and was using his first years at A&M to explore his many interests.
“He was not 100 percent sure [what he wanted to do], which we encouraged him that was okay and that he would figure it out hopefully after his freshman year or his sophomore year,” Roger said. “He was going through engineering at the moment and I think he was going to get into either computer programming or coding. He had an interest in gaming so he was looking into that too.”
While Roger admired many parts of Tyrel’s personality, one trait in particular stood out.
“Absolute favorite quality — there’s so many,” Roger said. “That he cared. He really cared. Whatever he was doing he really cared about the success of the outcome.”
Tyrel brought an unparalleled happiness to his father, who said he loved every part of Tyrel’s lifetime.
“He was a very sweet, kind, funny young man, or boy,” Roger said. “As I have been telling people, I’ve had 18 years, three months and 11 days of nothing but pure joy. I’ve never had a moment of regret or even a bad moment, it’s all been great.”
Tyrel’s mother Sheri Brown said her son was kind, among many other admirable qualities.
“Tyrel was a really sweet kid,” Sheri said. “He was funny and goofy and smart, really smart. He was just a good kid, he never gave us any trouble, and he was talented. He played the piano and the guitar … He loved me and his dad and our dog Coco and our rabbit Lilly. He liked to go camping with his dad and he liked playing basketball and video games.”
While Roger has many memories of his son, there is one from Tyrel’s childhood that stands out to him.
“My favorite memory was probably when he was three or four years old he was in his car seat and me and his mom were talking,” Roger said. “I asked a question and he actually answered it. I remember being surprised that he knew the answer so I asked, ‘Well how did you know that?’ and he said, ‘Dad I just know some things.’”
Tyrel’s mother Sheri said she will always cherish the memories she has of her son.
“There are so many memories,” Sheri said. “Him coming in the door and saying, ‘I love you, Mom.’ Going to Tennessee on vacation. When we were in a cabin for a week with the nature and the bears and the mountains.”
Above all else, Tyrel was a treasure to his family and Sheri said he will be deeply missed.
“He was beloved by his mommy and his daddy,” Sheri said. “He was always happy and he always wanted to be good. He was a Christian and he was just the joy of our lives. He was a pure joy from the moment he was born to the moment he left.”
One of the greatest lessons Sheri said she learned from Tyrel’s life was to never take the time you have with someone for granted.
“Something I learned from Tyrel’s life is that life is too short and to spend every minute that you can loving that person,” Sheri said.