Marilyn Patrice Brown 1928 - 2017

BROWN, BUTLER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 1/12/2017 at 07:50:13

Sioux City Journal
11 January 2017

SIOUX CITY | Marilyn Patrice Brown, 88, of Sioux City, died Friday, Jan. 6, 2017, at Bickford Memory Care in Sioux City.

Private graveside services will be at a later date. Arrangements are with Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel.

Marilyn Brown was born Aug. 23, 1928, in Albany, Mo., to Lucille and William Butler. She attended Albany High School, and graduated from Maryville (Mo.) State Teachers College and Chillicothe Business College in 1945.

She married Robert H. "Bob" Brown.

She lived in Albany, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Sioux City and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Lincoln and Omaha, Neb. Marilyn worked as a legal secretary for the law firm of Wetz and Cosgrove in Sioux City, and as administrative officer for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Iowa and Nebraska. As part of her employment, she traveled throughout the United States to various U.S. attorney's offices. Two of her favorite U.S. attorneys she worked for were Gary Wenell and Ron Lahners. She loved the job, and she loved the people she worked with, and made many friends.

After retirement she worked as a paraprofessional with special needs/special education children in the Bellevue, Neb., school system.

She was a member of Whitfield United Methodist Church in Sioux City, and St. James United Methodist Church in Bellevue. She was a member of Toastmasters International.

Marilyn lived a full and event-filled life. For the average family, just raising their own children, David, Susan and Jeff, would have been enough of a challenge. But, Marilyn and Bob opened their home and hearts to 15 foster children – all teenage boys – during a period of several years.

Food and the preparation of it was one of her many talents and passions. Evidence of this can be seen in her three published cookbooks. For anyone coming to visit her, the first question was, "What do you want to eat?"

Marilyn was a member of a wonderful and faithful group of ladies called The Lunch Bunch, which started getting together in 1975 and 1976. The "Bunch" would gather on the first Saturday of every month. The bunch included Elly Gibson, Muriel Lyle, Marge Meyer (deceased), Barb Mueller, Joann Pithan, Jan Reese and Ginny Seiffert (deceased). The group continues to meet even though their numbers have declined. To Marilyn's last days, Muriel Lyle remained loyal and steadfast and was considered a better-than-sister friend.

Marilyn loved to shop. There isn't a salesperson at either the grocery store or department store who Marilyn was not interested in their life story. She knew many of them by their first name.

Survivors include her children, David (Karen) Brown of Ames, Iowa, Susan (the Rev. Jerry S. Jones) Brown-Jones of Hays, Kan., and Jeff Brown of Sioux City; and four grandchildren, Samuel, Tyler, Sydnie and Sammie.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert H. Brown; and grandson, Benjamin A. Brown.

Memorials are suggested to Bickford Memory Care in Sioux City.

The family thanks the director and staff at Bickford Memory Care in Sioux City for the professional and compassionate care of Marilyn.