‘Alaskan Bush People’: Ami Brown Reveals Rare Photo of Billy and Her on Their Wedding Day

Ami Brown is continuing to mourn the loss of her husband, Billy Brown. More than two years after the Alaskan Bush People patriarch died in February 2021 at 68 after he suffered a seizure at the family home in Washington state, Brown sweetly reflected on the earliest days of their relationship when she shared a major throwback photo to their 1979 wedding day.

The Discovery Channel star shared the post to Instagram back on March 16, simply writing, “Billy, and I, on our wedding day, June 16, 1979.” The image showed the newlyweds in their wedding attire, Billy opting for a white suit as Brown wore a white gown and matching white hat. The post drew in many comments, including from the couple’s oldest daughter, Snowbird Brown, who reacted to the image by sharing a red heart emoji. One fan, meanwhile, commented, “Oh my goodness! This picture is a treasure. I can see bits of the kids in both of your faces here,” with another person writing, “What a beautiful photo to reflect on the beginning of the wolf pack… Your strength has been an inspiration to me. Bless you Ami.”

Brown and Billy married on June 16, 1979, in Texas when Billy was 26 and Amy was only 15. Technically, the marriage was legal, as girls as young as 14 could be married in Texas at the time with parental consent. In his memoir, One Wave At A Time, Billy recalled seeing his future wife for the very first time, writing, “She was the most beautiful young woman I had ever met,” adding that the relationship was “love at first sight.”

Over the decades that would follow, Brown and her husband all but dropped off the grid, eventually settling in Alaska in 1986 before ultimately making the move to Washington decades later amid Brown’s cancer battle, as they began to raise their so-called “wolfpack.” The couple welcomed their first child, son Matt, in 1982, followed by Joshua “Bam Bam” in 1984. They went on to welcome five more children over the next few years – Solomon ‘Bear’ Isaiah Freedom (1987), Gabriel ‘Gabe’ Starbuck (1989), Noah Darkcloud (1992), Amora Jean ‘Birdy’ Snowbird (1994), and Merry Christmas ‘Rainy’ Kathryn Raindrop (2002). 

The family eventually became the focus of Discovery’s hit series Alaskan Bush People, which chronicled their lives in the Alaskan wilderness and has since continued to follow the family as they made the move to the continental U.S. Billy tragically passed away on February 7, 2021, after suffering a seizure. He was 68.