Elizabeth "Betsy" Brown

Elizabeth “Betsy” Brown of Saint Johns, Florida, age 74, died of pneumonia on March 20, 2025. For several years she suffered from Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) a movement disorder that is often mistaken for Parkinson’s Disease in the early stages.

Betsy was born in Kansas, and was the youngest daughter of a Presbyterian minister, moving throughout the Midwest during her childhood, and settling in Florida during her high school years. She attended Florida State University where she received both a degree in elementary education and a lifelong love of the ‘Noles.

Her teaching career was marked by a passion for helping kids to have fun learning, and by a passion for mentoring young teachers. She loved to have aspiring teachers serve as interns in her classroom. Her influence was so notable that one teacher went on to write a journal article entitled “Everyone Needs a Betsy,” a discussion of the critical role a teaching mentor can play in a young teacher’s career. She taught for 40-years, primarily as a 1st and 2nd grade teacher, most of those years at Killearn Lakes Elementary School in Tallahassee, Florida.

In 1981, Betsy married Byron Brown, and together they raised two daughters in Tallahassee. Her death leaves Byron, in Saint Johns, Florida, Megan Kelly and husband Brian in San Diego, California, and Emily Wieger and husband Glen in Jacksonville, Florida. Both daughters gave Betsy two grandsons, Luke and Griffin Kelly, and Teddy and Holden Wieger. Betsy was extremely proud of and devoted to her family, though she was frustrated by the limitations the disease put on her ability to be fully involved. She is also survived by two brothers-in-law, Walter Trafton and Kevin Brown, and three nieces and a nephew.

Betsy was preceded in her death by her parents, Ralph Montgomery and Edna Warnes Martin; brother, James Martin and his wife Mary Martin; sister, Barbara Trafton; father- and mother-in-law, Doyl and Aletha Brown; and her brother-in-law, Clyne Brown.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the PSP/CBD Foundation (https://pspcbdfoundation.org/honor/), the organization that provided support to Betsy for several years through regular support group meetings. These donations will go toward finding a cure for the affliction that took Betsy from us too soon. Please designate your gift in memory of Betsy. If you check the box for the family to be notified, you will not need to leave our email address, as they have it already.

Plans for a celebration of life have not been set at this time.