Lois Brown

A Celebration of Life for Lois Brown, age 88, of Waconia, Minnesota formerly of Wheaton, Minnesota will be held Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Wheaton, Minnesota with Rev. Thomas Olson and Chaplain Helmar Heckel officiating. Visitation will be held Friday evening from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. with a 7:00 p.m. Prayer Service at the Ranney-Bainbridge Funeral Home in Wheaton. Interment will be in Wildwood Cemetery, Wheaton. Born February 21, 1924 to Alfred and Dorthea (Black) Johnson in Diamond Lake Township, Lincoln County, Minnesota. She grew up on a farm there until moving to Minneapolis to live with her aunts. Lois was baptized at English Lutheran Church, Lake Benton, MN May 18, 1924, confirmed her faith at Diamond Lake Lutheran, Lake Benton, MN on April 10, 1938. She later became a member of Siloah Lutheran Church, Parnell Township, Traverse County, MN and Gustavus Adolphus/Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Wheaton, MN . Lois attended Lincoln County Rural District school, West High School in Minneapolis, and graduated from West Central School of Agriculture High School, Morris, MN in 1942, Advanced Class 1943. While attending WCSA Lois met her future husband, Edmund Brown of Wheaton. They married May 17, 1944 in Minneapolis, MN and she joined him at Air Force Bases in Alabama and Mississippi. After World War II they moved back to Wheaton, MN and raised five children while farming in Walls and Croke Townships. Lois was a proficient homemaker sewing, canning, cooking and baking for a large extended family. She enjoyed extension club and church circle. Lois joined Edmund and their family in other church activities and choir, neighborhood card club and Saturday night dances. In 1972 Lois and Edmund purchased their home in Wheaton. Caring for others started early in life when Lois began passing trays at her aunts nursing home. She went on to work at Wheaton Community Hospital and Traverse Care Center doing so with great devotion until 1988. During retirement Lois and Edmund enjoyed traveling to family around the U.S. and Norway, helping out, spending time with grandchildren, volunteering at the Care Center, quilting at church, reading and calling on the elderly. Edmund and Lois were blessed with fifty years of marriage before Edmunds passing in 1994. In 2010 Lois moved to her apartment at Westview Acres Good Samaritan Society, Waconia, MN. While there she enjoyed getting acquainted with others, family events, playing games, Bible study and chapel. Her new friends grew fond of her legendary cashew brittle and quick wit. Lois was preceded in death by her husband, Edmund Brown, parents Alfred and Dorthea Johnson, daughter-in-law Mary Brown, infant grandson, siblings and their spouses: Hubert & Metta Johnson, Norman & Pearl Johnson, Elva & William McCall, A. Curtis Johnson and five nieces and nephews. Lois will be lovingly missed by her family; Steven Brown and fiance Hollie Vogt, Glencoe, MN; Craig and Darlene Brown, Sumner, WA; Brent & Connie Brown, Cypress, TX; Ralph & Donna Brown, Clear Lake, MN; Julie Brown, Independence, MN. Grandchildren Kristin (Travis) Barrick, Scott Brown, Stacey (Todd) Venamon, Angela Brown, Christopher Brown, Joshua Brown, Kelsey Brown, Galen Magnuson and Whitney Magnuson. Great-granddaughter Chelsey Brown. Sister-in-law Dorothy Johnson and many nieces and nephews. A Mother's Love A Mother's love is something that no on can explain, It is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain, It is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may For nothing can destroy it or take that love away . . . It is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking, And it never fails or falters even though the heart is breaking . . . It believes beyond believing when the world around condemns, And it glows with all the beauty of the rarest, brightest gems . . . It is far beyond defining, it defies all explanation, And it still remains a secret like the mysteries of creation . . . A many splendoured miracle man cannot understand And another wondrous evidence of God's tender guiding hand. Helen Steiner Rice