Mary Rachel Brown

Mary Rachel Brown of Marysville, WA passed away peacefully on Thursday, June 23rd 2022 at the age of 100. She was born in Wolverhampton, England on June 4th, 1922 to Alfred and Lilias Thomas and was the middle of seven children. She married Henry "Dennis" Brown on July 10th, 1944, and had two children Mary “Pamela" and Roger Dennis “Geoffrey".

In 1958, the Browns packed up their family and decided to emigrate – first to Burnaby, BC and then to America – settling into the Phinney Ridge community in Seattle, where Mary was active with her church Phinney Ridge Lutheran. They later moved to Richmond Beach, where Mary became involved in Edmonds Garden Club. The Browns owned one of the first summer cabins on Lake Shoecraft, where the family has had a presence since 1963. Mary had one of the first jet skis on the lake and delighted in reminding her grandchildren that no, she wasn’t too old! She and Dennis eventually retired to the lake and lived in the Marysville area for the rest of their lives.

True to their adventurous spirits, Mary and Dennis enjoyed far-flung world travel – visiting their daughter’s family homes in the UAE and Cyprus as well as holidaying in places like French Polynesia. They took multiple memorable trips to Maui with their grandchildren and traveled to Palm Desert in their motorhome. A particular highlight came in 1983, when they treated themselves to the “Grand New York to London” luxury tour package which had passengers sail from New York to London aboard Cunard's Queen Elizabeth II (QE2), ride on the Orient Express and fly back to NY on the British Airways Concorde. Mary often spoke of her delight at seeing the curvature of the Earth from aboard the supersonic jet. We hope she can see it now from wherever she is.

Mary was the longest living relative in her family, preceded in death by all her siblings, husband Dennis, daughter Pamela (Awad) and daughter-in-law Caroline Brown. She is survived by her son Geoffrey, son-in-law Isam Awad, grandchildren Nadia, Adnan, Rachel, Ramsey and Cameron and great-grandchildren Gabriel, Zara, Cambrielle, Kylee, Aden and Arthur.

The family would like to offer special thanks to the healthcare teams at Providence Hospice Snohomish County and The Marysville Care Center.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.SchaeferShipmanFuneral.com for the Brown family.