Our mom, and our dad's companion, Bettie Louise Brown (aka as Betsy, Bett and "Heads"), was born into a family of 10 kids (eventually 11), on October 17th, 1932 in Montgomery, Alabama and was preceded in death by both parents and eventually all of her siblings and in-laws. Now having lost her, we can only imagine how difficult it must have been for her to lose almost everyone else. She was an extraordinarily thoughtful, generous, and forgiving person, full of faith, understanding and patience, and was a devout Catholic to the end. Before settling down, she went to Alabama State, traveled and lived in the South and Mid-West, and held several jobs including those as a domestic, a nurses aid, a seamstress at a drapery shop, and an elevator operator with McCall's Magazine. She aspired to join the US Air Force, but before that could happen, Bettie was somehow introduced by her cousin Freddie, to Jim Brown of Detroit, Michigan in 1953. Amazingly he was also from a family of 11 kids, and unlike many today who first live together and then wed, they married in 1955 after two years of dating, and lived apart for several months before starting a life together that would last for 59 more years. Through that time they moved around the US over a half a dozen times before finally settling in the Pacific Northwest, had 5 kids, 2 of whom passed away as infants, and the 3 of who survive her today along with our Dad, and so many nieces and nephews we have lost count. Bettie had a wicked sense of humor, always leaving us memorable notes and hilarious voicemails along with rarely failing to send cards to us and many of our family, friends and neighbors for every holiday and birthday (Hallmark and Papyrus will definitely feel the loss...). She was an amazing cook with the ability to make almost anything from scratch perfectly on the first try, sometimes tormenting us with food perfection, never to make that culinary masterpiece again. We are truly going to miss her fried rice, candied sweet potatoes, meatloaf with amazing long gravy as well as the string beans and fried corn. She was also an accomplished seamstress, an avid doodler/documenter/list-maker, an amateur hairdresser, a novice landscape designer and bird enthusiast, a sometimes remarkable impressionist, everyone's confidant and constant encourager, and simply our family's center. She passed away on July 6th, 2014, after battling cancer, somehow surviving for 16 months through what likely should have been no more than 4. We thank God for the extra time as it was truly a gift for us to have known and been loved by and cared for by such a special individual, which she was to many, independent of being our mother/wife. Those sparkling eyes and that radiant dimpled smile - she was always happy to "see" any of us whether in person or just over the phone, stopping whatever she might be doing to make time just for you....how easy it was to take seemingly simple gestures for granted. In time, only the wealth of such great memories can hopefully overcome the depth of endless sadness and grief over her loss. We will love and miss her forever. Jaimie, Angela, Abigail and Jim.

SERVICES
A private memorial service took place at St. Lousie Parish in Bellevue, Washington. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to NW Harvest.