Lois Brown

Lois Brown, age 81, of O’Brien, died Monday, January 16, 2012 at Three Rivers Community Hospital.

A funeral service will be at 2:00 p.m., Friday, January 20, 2012 at Illinois Valley Funeral Directors. Interment will follow at Laurel Cemetery.

Lois began life in this world November 30, 1930 in Faribault, Minnesota the first born into the union of LeRoy (Roy) & Lorraine Olson. She was baptized Yvonne Lois Lorraine Olson and had one sibling, a brother ‘Jerry,’ who preceded her in death at the young age of 23.

Her childhood included a lot of moving, until her parents settled in Cross Lake, Minnesota where they owned and operated the ‘Moonlight Bay’ resort, bar and dance hall, and it is there where she called ‘Home.’ Her parents divorced and she and her brother moved with their mother to California. There she met her future husband, Elmer C. Brown ‘Brownie’ and married him on May 1, 1948, which was a couple of months before she graduated from high school in Pomona, California. In May of 1950, they were blessed by their first born Dennis Kay, followed by Anthony Lee in May of 1953, and Joni Lynn in October of 1957. They lost two children; one through a miscarriage, and another was still-born and is buried in Prophetstown, Illinois.

Brownie joined the Navy in 1945, and was trained in engineering and refrigeration, cruising around the world three times. He was honorably discharged a couple of months after they had been married in 1948. They settled first in Toulon, Illinois where they worked for the family owned ‘Brown Implement Store.’ With a desire to make a better life, in 1956 they moved to California where Brownie worked as an Operating Engineer in freeway construction until his retirement in 1980. First moving to Santa Barbara area, where they found lifelong friends, the Blairs. To grant Lois’ wish of a stable home life, he would travel and work in locations throughout the state and provide a strong foundation for their family. The family revolved around her, the heart of the hearth and home in Yucaipa, California. After Brownie’s retirement, they moved to Oregon, where they built their home with their own hands in the forest at the base of the Siskiyous of O’Brien.

Family was everything to her. She loved her life, where she shined as a Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother and Friend. Always considerate, compassionate and loving, she would engulf her ‘Family’ to include close Friends.

Her joy in life was her family. Her strength was her belief in God. For recreation she enjoyed card games.

Lois is survived by three children, Dennis Brown of Redlands, California, Tony Brown and wife Jeanie of Broomfield, Colorado and Joni Bond and husband Dennis of O’Brien, Oregon; grandchildren, Kelly Lombera and husband Jerry of Covina, California, Casey Brown and wife Melinda of Missoula, Montana, Courtney Aspinwall and husband Evan of Alexandria, Virginia, Lindsey Tovrog and husband Matt of Smyrna, Georgia, and Garrett Brown and wife Stephanie of Atlanta, Georgia; and two great-grandchildren, Astrid Brown and Mazzy Brown both of Missoula, Montana.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Elmer ‘Brownie’ Brown.

We will miss her deeply, but know, she is now ‘Home.’