Jane Irene Jackson Brown

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Jane I. Brown, 86, transitioned gracefully and peacefully to her eternal life on Monday, July 7, 2008, following a short illness in Glendale, Ariz.

Jane had many interests in her life and especially loved to read mystery novels, study old and new maps, test her word knowledge by filling in countless crossword puzzles, eat out at her favorite restaurants, watch old reruns of Murder She Wrote, bake apple pies, reminisce about her old friends from Holcombe, and razzle/dazzle her way through every Packers game.

In the early 1940s, Jane worked for the Maritime Commission in Superior where she met her future husband, Herbert. They married on April 10, 1944, and went on many adventures together, especially a two-year stay in Frankfort, Germany, and four years in Paris, France, where Herbert worked for the Army Corps of Engineers in its effort to rebuild Europe following WWII. After moving back to "The States" in 1957 with their children, Tracy, Penelope and Terry (Marla, their third child had died in Germany from chicken pox), they built a brick ranch home on a hill overlooking Lake Holcombe, where they spent many years.

When their children had grown up to lead lives of their own, Herbert and Jane traveled throughout the U.S. and Canada, and spent several winters in the southern part of Texas. When Herbert died in 1985, Jane remained in Holcombe where she lived in another home, also fronting Lake Holcombe, and spent many happy years with her birthday group, bike riding and visiting friends. When her health began to decline, she moved in with her daughter Penelope and her husband Ronald, where she lived for 10 years from 1997 to 2007.

After a serious fall in mid-2007, she moved into an assisted living facility with nine other residents and enjoyed her private room and as well as spending time with a friend she met there.

Jane was painfully shy her whole life but always enjoyed the comfort, support and joy her family and old friends provided. And she was exceedingly generous to numerous nonprofit organizations, especially those dealing with U.S. military veterans.

She is survived by: her two children, Tracy Brown and Penelope Klaphake; several grandchildren and great grandchildren; a sister Lois Pettingill; and brother Robert Jackson; and a daughter-in-law Barbara (White) Brown.

Besides being preceded in death by her daughter, Marla and husband Herbert, she survived her parents, Wendell and Clara (Bond) Jackson; a son Terry; a brother James Jackson; and a daughter- in-law Lois Brown.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Friday, July 11 at the Holcombe United Methodist Church with Pastor Cheri Miskimen officiating. Burial will be in the Holcombe Cemetery.

Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Borton Funeral Home in Cornell and one hour prior to services at the church on Friday.