Joan Lucille Berry Brown

Joan Lucille Lund Berry Brown, 83, passed away peacefully, yet unexpectedly, at her home in Lakewood, CO, on August 9, 2015. Joan is survived by her three children, Carol, Paul, and Jamie, their spouses Son-in-Law Michael and Daughter-in-Law Marta, and seven grandchildren: Adam, Aaron, Cody, Drew, Gillian, Cheyenne, and Julieta. Joan was a Wyoming native, with deep connections to Lusk and stayed active with lifelong friends throughout the State. Joan is perhaps best remembered for having represented Wyoming in the 1966 Mrs. America Contest where she was 1st runner-up and served the following year as Mrs. United States Savings Bonds. In this role, Joan toured the United States and over-seas military bases handing out miniature "W" (for Wyoming) branding irons to dignitaries while drumming up support for U.S. Savings Bonds.

Joan grew up in the 1930's and 40's attending 13 different schools across Wyoming. Her father, Carl Lund, was a crew chief with the Bell Telephone Company setting the original telephone lines statewide. In the '50s, as a UW Pi Beta Phi sister, Joan was head drum majorette. Later in life, she was fond of recalling the Cowboy win at the 1950 Gator Bowl and her awakening as an Equality State young woman to the injustices of the Segregation Era South on the team's train trip to Florida.

Joan married Jim Berry of Newcastle in 1952, shortly thereafter began a family, and moved back to Lusk, where the two of them and their young children participated in the outrageous Lusk Melodrama troupe. The Lusk Melodrama represented Wyoming at the 1964 Seattle World's Fair, and the show was such a hit that the Wyoming Pavilion in the USA State Pavilion area was second in visitor attendance only to Utah, featuring the entire Mormon Tabernacle Choir!

The 1970's saw great changes in Joan's life, which included children leaving the nest, and a move to California where she married Jim Brown and developed a deepening interest in spiritual pursuits. Joan's husband, aerospace executive James P. Brown, passed away in 2003. Since his passing, Joan had been residing close to family in Lakewood, CO, making frequent trips to her beloved Wyoming.

Joan was active in the PEO, Episcopal Church, Republican Party, and the non-denominational Science of Mind Church. She will be laid to rest in Pauma Valley, California, where she had lived the happy retirement years of Mr. Brown and where Joan had maintained one of her many close circles of friends.

A Celebration of Life Service is scheduled for Saturday, 8/29/15, 10:00 AM, at the Mile Hi Church, 9077 W. Alameda Ave., Lakewood, CO 80226 with a follow-up party, as per Joan's wishes, at the Rolling Hills Country Club, 15707 W 26th Ave, Golden, CO 8040, (303) 279-3334.

Due to the number of Joan's lifelong and more recent friends, and as a send-off in the way that Joan would have wished, please RSVP to:

preciouscelebration@gmail.com or the Joan Brown Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/joan.brown or directly to Joan's daughter, Jamie Vance: (720) 318-6997

We are requesting that everyone who has a special memory of a time with Joan, submit it and your name to us no later than Sunday August 23rd. we will be composing a book that we can give to everyone to honor her memory. Please send your story to the gmail address above or:

Jamie Vance

6155 West Harvard Drive,

Lakewood, CO 80227

In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Joan Brown's name for the Alzheimer's Association: ALZ.org

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