Adele Phyllis Brown

We are saddened to report the passing of Adele Brown on Friday, April 30 after a recent illness. Adele grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her parents owned Lund Grocery Store. Adele attended Patrick Henry High School and then Gustavus Adolphus College where she majored in Education with a focus on Home Economics. After completing college, Adele moved to Southern California for a warmer climate and started teaching at Fontana High School where she met her husband, Lee, who taught Business. She later transferred to Montclair High School where she taught for over 35 years. Adele was a lifelong learner and continued her post graduate work at Iowa State, UCLA, UC Riverside just to name a few.

She and Lee lived in Alta Loma for 50 years. After Lee passed away, she moved to Seal Beach to be near her daughter Elizabeth, son-in-law Rich, and grandson Kevin. Adele was interested in everything, loved to read and was an active member of book clubs and Great Decisions. She loved to both watch and play sports. She loved watching baseball, basketball, football, and hockey and rooted on her Minnesota teams. She was an avid Bridge player and played bridge weekly her entire life. She loved games and played board games and Cribbage frequently. She loved to travel and went to many states and countries. She was one of the first people to visit Cuba when tourists could go back.

Adele was an advocate for the equality and advancement of women in STEM careers and was an officer and member of AAUW for over 50 years. She was also a member of the United Methodist Church in Claremont, the UMC of Cucamonga, where she was a lay leader and on the board for the pre-school, and she later joined the Los Altos UMC in 2005 where she was active in United Methodist Women (Priscilla Circle).

Adele loved music and regularly attended LA Phil Concerts and plays, and passed along her love of cultural events to Elizabeth and her family. She loved Linda Eder and had to see her whenever she was in concert and saw Leonard Cohen at the last show he performed in LA. She was active with the Chaffey High School Community Concert association bringing a lot of great talent to Chaffey. She was also a member of DAR, UNA, CTA, CSTRS and CCA. She had many friends and she will be greatly missed.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to UMCOR or UNICEF. A memorial service will be held at the Los Altos United Methodist Church in Long Beach at 10:00 am on Friday, May 28, 2021.