Obituary: Brown, Joyce
BROWN, Joyce
Joyce Brown went to her rest January 26 at home in Cheney, WA, surrounded by loved ones.
She was born August 22, 1932 in Yuma, MI, the second child in a large family of two boys and five girls.
It was the Great Depression, yet she and all her siblings earned college degrees.
She graduated from Emmanuel Missionary College in 1955 with a degree in Business Administration.
Having never lived out of the state of MI, it was surprising that she accepted a job offer as cashier, way out in the wild and wooly west, for the Upper Columbia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Spokane, WA.
At the same time a young man named Merrill Brown was heading back home to the family farm near Cheney, having just been discharged from the Army at Ft. Devens, MA.
Three weeks later they met at an Adventist youth camp on Hayden Lake, ID.
In two years they were married.
From that union came five children, three boys and two girls.
Joyce was her church’s treasurer for many years, plus doing all the accounting for the family farm.
She and her husband were Pathfinder leaders (a youth group ages 10-16) for 47 years.
Joyce excelled in singing, playing the piano, organ, saxophone and accordion.
She hiked, biked, camped, swam, went canoeing, marching and backpacking.
She was one of those quiet leaders who never chose to be up front.
Her gladiolus won the sweepstakes award in the Spokane County Interstate Fair for two years, and also the Grand prize for the best craft.
For that she wove a macramĂŠwedding setting.
She leaves behind her husband Merrill; her children Vernon, Susan (Eastman), Sharon (Hall), Dan and Douglas.
She also leaves two sisters and a brother in Michigan, and five grandchildren.
A Memorial service will be held at the Central Seventh-day Adventist church, 828 West Spofford, Spokane, at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 26, 2012.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to Upper Columbia Conference Pathfinders, P.O.
Box 19039, Spokane, WA 99219-9039, or a mission of your choice.