My mother, Millie Brown, was born to Charles Henry and Hattie Jane Barner long ago in April, 1923 and peacefully passed away just two months short of her 100th birthday. Imagine the changes she witnessed in her lifetime. Shoot, the Model A Ford wasn’t even introduced until 1927. Her father (my grandfather, Papu) still had a running Model T when he passed. She was an only child and their family followed the traditions of their heritage from Hermann, Missouri. Hard work, frugality, and family. Her motto which hung in all her kitchens was “Tomorrow Begins Today”. She was raised about a mile north of Shawnee Mission North High School, known as Shawnee Mission Rural in those days. On an acre of land , in a house he built himself, Charlie Barner and Hattie (Mamu to me) had a huge garden, apple trees, pears, cherries, asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, chickens, and a grape arbor. Mamu canned them all. My mother must have had a wonderful childhood, a little bit of farm life right there in what was then “country” but is now northern Johnson County.
It was at Shawnee Mission Rural that she met my father, William R. Brown, who was the same age but was a year ahead of her because … well, he was a very smart guy. They played in a clarinet quartet together. He helped her with her Chemistry class, the only class she struggled with (maybe she was faking a little ) since she was a straight A student. Always a go getter, she was a Majorette for the marching band and played clarinet and piano, too. The posted picture shows her strutting with her baton.
After HS graduation in 1941 she did what many others in the country did at that time … her part. At 18 she packed a suitcase with snap button clasps (I still have it) with the initials MMB on it and boarded a train to Washington, DC. There she booked a room in a boarding house and “fought in the war” by working in administration for the War Department. Interestingly, my good friend Nancy Field’s mother, Virginia Hendon, of Lawrence Kansas did exactly the same thing. Meanwhile, my dad was hitting the books as an undergrad at KU (they were lifelong Jayhawks!). I’m not sure how it came about, but she came back to Kansas City and those two got together. My mom studied nursing and became an RN at Research Medical Center. They got married and she put him through medical school at KU by working as an RN. My older sister Patricia Lynn was born in 1949. RIP Pat, who succumbed to an aggressive “out of the blue” cancer just last summer way too early at 73. Meanwhile, as I was preparing to be born in 1953, my dad was stationed for his military service in post WWII Europe as an MD Captain. When I was a baby my mom packed up my sister and I, boarded a boat, sailed the Atlantic, and joined my father posted in Trieste, Italy, at the north end of the Adriatic, bordering Yugoslavia. From the pictures, it must have been a sweet and heady life for the young couple.
After completing their service, they came home and he set up shop in Pleasant Hill, Misouri. There, they met lifetime friends Bob and Harriet Shortridge (the town pharmacist) and Jay and Margaret Anderson (the town HS football coach and burgeoning entrepreneur). My dad teamed with Jay as the team doctor on the sidelines of the gridiron. It was there my memories start and I vividly remember our cocker spaniel Sandy having a litter of puppies and my dad bobbing their tails with a butcher knife!
We moved to Overland Park and lived at 73rd and Conser for my kindergarten. It was there that my memories of my mom crystallized. It didn’t matter what my sister and I were involved in, my mom was front and center and involved 100%. Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, PTA. Little League Baseball, YMCA. This continued forever with my mom making curtains and macramé plant hangers for my room in college and continued for my kids Katy and Will Brown, who she dearly loved. She and my dad babysat many Saturday nights for my wife Carol and I while my kids grew up. They loved their Grammy and Grandpa dearly. They took them on vacations to Disneyland, Puerto Vallarta, as well as many trips to Bella Vista Arkansas and Scottsdale Arizona where my dad, the avid golfer, owned properties on golf courses. The love of their grandkids filled their lives with much joy.
Throughout Dad’s life as a family doctor in Prairie Village, my mom did whatever was necessary at the time ranging from office nurse, typist, office manager and girl Friday while also cooking every night and being your typical June Cleaver housemaker for my sister and I. They made many friends of his patients over the years. My dad worked into his 70’s and then continued to work as a volunteer a few days a month at clinics in Johnson County. In a nutshell he was a helluva doctor and she, a helluva nurse. They could do it all seemingly with ease.
My Dad’s health took a turn in his 80s primarily due to a lifetime of Camel straights. My mom cared for him just like she cared for us until he passed at 85. Throughout her life and especially after his passing, my mom had a dog and loved them dearly. At that point and in a house and yard too big, she moved out of the family home in Prairie Village and into senior living at Claridge Court. There, she did her typical thing and “took over as social director” and whenever new prospects were touring the sales staff made sure to take them to Millie’s apartment so they could see how happy life was there. With the passing of time, Millie really didn’t slow down much, walking her dog and keeping up with every concert, sports game, or any event whatsoever her grandkids were involved in. Finally, father time caught up with her and dementia set in at age 95. The last five years of her life were hard starting with the recognition that she could no longer drive (she donated her car) and then, crushingly, she could no longer take care of her dog.
At that point my sister and I moved her to a memory care facility close to my sister in Lee’s Summit, Cross Creek where she passed her final 5 years. She was preceded in death by her husband, William Russell Brown, and daughter Patricia Lynn Haas. She is survived by myself, her son Charles Russell Brown, my wife Carol Brown, her grandchildren Kathryn (Katy) Cardenas Brown Bourzikas and William Alan Brown, Will’s wife Stacy Mabie Brown, Katy’s husband Kent Bourzikas, great grandchildren Bennett Orion Bourzikas and Brock Rigel Bourzikas, and son in law and husband of my late sister Larry Haas.
All I can say is how very lucky I am to have been her son. She was a saint to me and to many people.
Rest In Peace, Mom. I love you and I am crying as I write this.
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