Tamara Anne Brown

South San Francisco, California: Tamara Anne Brown was born on February 16, 1935 and passed quietly on March 18, 2013.

Born in Chicago and raised in New Orleans, Tamara moved to San Francisco in the 1950's, married, and had four children.

Tamara was very active in the community, being a member of the Auxiliary to the Deaf, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children, the League of Women Voters, and the Woman's Club of San Francisco. She was also very active in local charities, raising funds for KQED and All Souls Church, where she often ran the parish annual fashion show.

She placed a strong emphasis on education and achievement, with all of her children attending college, including one at Pepperdine and two at Stanford University.

Tamara had a mischievous sense of humor, dressing up as The Tooth Fairy one Halloween and passing out tooth brushes to surprised trick-or-treaters.

Tamara loved people, parties, and a good adventure. She was fluent in Greek and spent most of her life traveling the world, often spending entire summers with her family in Greece, Ireland, Hawaii, and other exotic and distant locales.

A voracious speed reader, Tamara would emerge from the local library with a grocery bag full of books, only to return the following week for more.

Her love of animals knew no bounds, counting a bottle pig, two massive Irish Wolfhounds, and an adopted skunk among her many pets.

She spent the later 40 years of her life with her beloved second husband Richard A. Brown, a retired military officer. Tamara and Richard continued to travel the world, meeting new friends all along the way. Tamara's gift was people, making even strangers feel welcome and special.

Professionally she alternated time between market research and travel consulting and excelled at both. Tamara was enthusiastically active for decades in the local Beta Sigma Phi Sorority and, along with Richard, socially as part of the Francis Drake Masonic Lodge 376.

Tamara is survived by her husband Richard, her children Nickoletta, Royal, Lisa, Stephanie, Michael, Philip, and Theresa, son-in-law David and daughter-in-law Laurie, grandchildren Jason, Joshua, Katherine, and Elle, her brother Nicky and sister-in-law Irmgard and their children Alexander and Valerie, her little white terrier Dakota, and, at 78, many close friends and cherished friendships spanning a full and rich lifetime.

Her eldest child Anastasia (Doodie), taken by diabetes at an early age, remained in her heart until her last breath.

Services will be held at All Souls Church in South San Francisco on Tuesday, April 2nd at 12:00pm. Because of Tamara's great love for animals, donations can be sent to the local SPCA in lieu of flowers.