Aletha Ninon Brown

Aletha “Lee” Ninon Neff Brown, 87, died Sunday, December 4, 2011 at St. David’s Hospital, Georgetown, TX. She was born March 23, 1924 to the late Reid Browning and Ninon Stout Neff of Yakima, Washington. Lee graduated from Roosevelt High School and attended the University of Washington in Seattle. During her early years, she became familiar with the outdoors assisting her dad logging and building bridges throughout Oregon and Washington until he died when she was 16. In college, she worked at Boeing and performed geodetic surveys of the Pacific coastline. In 1943, she moved to Elsinore, California where she met her husband-to-be Gerald “Jerry” Brown. They married March 11, 1944 in his parent’s living room and worked on the family wheat ranch until her husband was deployed to Okinawa. Lee moved to be with family in Yakima until the war ended and they went back to ranching. In 1947, enough money was saved to buy their own cattle ranch near Alturas, California. From the early years initially living in a line shack, she helped Jerry build and grow the ranch and even ran it for almost two years while he recovered from a horse accident that left him in a coma for about a year. In 1960, they sold that property and retired to a smaller cow-calf ranch near Victor, Montana which they built up to be almost as large as the previous ranch. In addition to doing all the duties of a ranch wife including feeding the cattle and crew, running equipment, helping brand and vaccinate cattle, she was active in the Eastern Star, was Worthy Matron of Naomi Chapter OES in Victor, Montana, the PTA, and other groups. Additionally, she loved to knit, cross stitch, and sew while raising two children and doing ranch work. After retiring a second time in 1974, they lived in Hamilton, Montana for a couple years before moving to the warmth of Hemet, California. During those years, they became avid square dancers and traveled throughout the US and Canada in their RV while following the dance circuit with their two poodles. After losing her husband of almost 50 years in 1994, she became active helping children in various schools and did a Western European tour where she got to visit ancestral property in Scotland and Ireland prior to moving to Round Rock, Texas in 2001 to be closer to her son and daughter-in-law, Gary and Peggy. An avid sports fan and reader, she was happiest with a game on TV and her nose in a book. Lee is survived by her loving son, Gary Brown CPA and wife Peggy of Round Rock, TX and granddaughter Laurel Brown of Cedar Rapids, IA, son-in-law, Retired General Kenneth Penttila of Inver Grove Heights, MN and grandchildren, Ric Penttila and wife Alisa with great-grandson Gavin of Seattle,WA, Steve Penttila of Seattle, WA, Kristina Nairn and husband Chris with great-grandchildren Reid, Catie, and Joel of Madison, WI, and Kevin Penttila and wife Angie and great-grandchildren Lucy and Austin of Inver Grove Heights, MN and other relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jerry, brother, Reid Neff, and most recently, daughter Jerralee “Jay” Penttila who died November 19, 2011. A special thanks to the staff at St. David’s Georgetown and Estrella Oaks Retirement and Nursing Home of Georgetown and her special friend Perdita Acevedo, Activities Director at Estrella Oaks for the wonderful care she received. A special sweet lady, she will be missed by all. Personal words of comfort may be sent to the family online at www.gabrielsfuneral.com . Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, December 8, 2011 and services will be at 10 a.m., Friday, December 9, 2011 at The Gabriels Funeral Home, 393 North Interstate35, Georgetown TX 78628.