Betty Jane Brown

Betty Jane (Simpson) Brown, age 88, passed away quietly on September 20, 2013, at her home in Rochester, from complications following a fall. In her final days, surrounded by family, she listened to the operas she loved. Betty was born December 1, 1924, in Seth, WV, high in the Appalachian Mountains, and grew up in nearby Rainelle.At Rainelle High School she played clarinet in the school band and edited the yearbook. A nursing graduate of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, she married Arnold Brown, a recent medical graduate, in 1949. She worked as a psychiatric nurse at Presbyterian-St. Lukes Hospital in Chicago, where her husband was a resident. She moved to Rochester in 1959 when he joined the Mayo Clinic, then to Madison, WI in 1978, when he became Dean of the University of Wisconsin medical school. While raising her family, Betty volunteered at Rochester schools and Madison hospitals, established and maintained the familys summer cottage on Madeline Island in Lake Superior, and supported her husbands career. In Rochester, she was a longstanding Rochester Youth Hockey Association hockey mom for three rink-rat sons. A voracious reader, she also loved crossword puzzles, tennis, and the Minnesota Twins, and baked unsurpassed chocolate chip cookies, ladyfinger cakes, and Yorkshire pudding. In addition to her husband and three brothers (Ed Simpson of Arlington, VA; John Simpson of Marion, SC; and David Simpson of Pt. Pleasant, WV), she is survived by her children Terry (Cheryl Crosby) of Minneapolis, Tony (Josephine Marcotty) of Minneapolis, Allen (Suzi) of Rochester, Fletcher (Wendy) of Missoula, MT, and Lisa Carey (Brett) of Northfield, and 13 grandchildren. As loving, gentle, determined, and patient a mother as ever lived, Betty brought her Southern manners north for her family to learn and absorb. She leaves five grateful children humbled by the example she set and her dedication to them. Bettys family wishes to thank the doctors, nurses, and staff at St. Marys Hospital and Charter House for their kindness and sensitive care. A private memorial is planned.