Marion Ruth Brown

Marion Ruth Brown, beloved, impassioned and exuberant sister, mother and grandmother, friend and colleague, courageous, joyful and indomitable spirit, died in Portland, OR, of congestive heart failure on her birthday, September 14, shortly after a visit from two of her children and her dear friend, Susan Saling. She was 94 years old. Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1920, Marion was one of two twin daughters of Alexander and Elizabeth Kurz. Her parents instilled in her a love and appreciation of nature, culture, music and education, values Marion held her entire life. She and her sister Monica were the closest friends, thinking of themselves as a single person, and they shared a great fondness for their dog Lori. As a youth Marion loved writing and aspired to be a journalist, In school she excelled in language, grammar, and athletics and had an uncanny aptitude for adding and subtracting numbers in her head – a talent she also used at her job at the local bakery. Marion’s life was a progression of moves westward. In 1938 she moved to England to escape Nazism, initially joining Monica and Alexander, now divorced from Elizabeth. Marion would later describe her time in London during the Blitz as ironically some of her happiest. It was then and there that she met lifelong friends, enjoyed passionate conversations, radical philosophical ideas, and deeply felt her freedom and independence. After receiving her secretarial degree and at the behest and encouragement of her sister and mother, who had remarried and emigrated to Forest Hills, New York, Marion set sail for New York City herself, in 1953, where she would live for the next thirty-nine years. While working in Manhattan, living in a small apartment with a beloved roommate Cathy from York, PA, Marion took philosophy classes and met her future husband Daniel Brown at a New School dance. Marion and Daniel were married in 1956, subsequently had four children, settling in different houses in Queens, mostly in Forest Hills. But the marriage was beset with difficulty, and after her divorce from Daniel in 1972 Marion worked for sixteen years at various secretarial jobs and then as an executive secretary and account executive at a fine optics company in Manhattan and on Long Island. After retirement she moved to Walla Walla, WA, in 1992, to be closer to her second son and his family. She would move once again to Portland, OR, in 2005 for the same reason. In later years Marion resumed her life-long love of education, taking Elderhostel courses, as well as becoming a doting grandmother and good friend. Marion’s four children, their partners, five grandchildren, and many relatives and friends will remember “Boo,” as she was often known, for many things, including her love of nature, the beach in summer, her joy in gift-giving and receiving, and the color yellow. They will remember her love of culture, a good book or movie, and her thirst for adventure and travel. They will remember her delight in surprise and laughter, even at her own expense. More than anything, perhaps, they will remember Boo for her fierce tenacity and love, her wide blue-eyed expressions of joy, delight, and gratitude, expressions that stayed with her till her final day. Marion is survived by her four children, Mark, Douglas, Peter, and Andrew, and five grandchildren, Emily, Russell, Danielle, Lucia, and Seraphina.