LaVena Brown

LaVena Lester Brown, born on February 26, 1940, in Chickasha, Oklahoma, died early Saturday morning, August 2, 2025, in Fort Collins, Colorado, after a long and courageous battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. She was 85 years old.

LaVena was lovingly cared for by her daughter, Natalie Brown, until the very end. She is survived by Natalie, and by her stepchildren, Kenneth Brown, Cynthia Brown Norris, and Ronald Brown, as well as eight grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Charles C. Brown, of Colorado Springs, in April 2017.

LaVena lived a life in care and love for others, especially for the children that she boldly shepherded for 63 years. Who among us can imagine the strength and courage it must have taken for a 22-year-old to step into the role of mother and wife to a family shaken by their mother’s tragic early death? With patience, kindness, and humor, she managed one of life’s greatest challenges with poise and grace and with an undying love for the man she married.

LaVena grew up in the small town of Chickasha, Oklahoma, one of five children of Louis Lester and Eunice Lay Lester. Her siblings, Mary Inez Lester Frare, Louis Jr (“Buddy”) Lester (deceased), and survived by Ronald Lester, and Patricia Lester. LaVena was an active and well-liked student at Chickasha High School, where she was a member of the famous “Fighting Chicks” cheerleading squad and an active member of the thespian crowd and the school choir and ensemble. She also demonstrated and early affection for travel and language as a member of Le Cercle Francais, and an aptitude for administrative tasks a student assistant in the school office.

LaVena attended business college in Oklahoma City but yearned for something new in the much smaller but faster-growing Colorado Springs. She moved north and took a job in the Colorado Springs Police Department. A chance encounter by job interview with the recently widowed Charles “Chuck” Brown led to their marriage at Holy Spirit Episcopal Chapel in February 1963. LaVena was a source of constant strength and companionship for Chuck over the next five decades as his prominence in business and community service grew. But LaVena did not only support those efforts; she also multiplied them. She was a forceful member of the church auxiliaries at Holy Spirit, Grace and St George’s Churches and an active leader in several community organizations. She managed the Episcopal Women’s Thrift House, working tirelessly for over 20 years to ensure its success. LaVena was a prodigious and talented artist and was an extraordinary cook who will forever be remembered by her children and grandchildren for extraordinary holiday feasts that always featured her famous scalloped potatoes. She enjoyed tennis and skiing, could camp and hike with the best of them, and was always up for travel adventures somewhere in the world. She was at every important event in her children’s lives; especially for her daughter Natalie, who was born in 1969—only two years before LaVena underwent two serious surgeries to deal with cancer, an affliction that followed her, sometimes mildly and sometimes painfully, for the rest of her life.

The memorial service to honor LaVena Brown will be held at St George’s Anglican Church in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 18, 2025, at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association (https://www.alz.org), the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region (https://hsppr.org), or the Colorado Springs Therapeutic Riding Center (https://cstrc.org).