Myrtis Virginia Brown

Virginia Brown of Longmont, Colorado died on July 6, 2026 at The Peaks Care Center in Longmont. She was 101. Born in her grandmother’s house on April 25, 1925 in Nashville, Arkansas, she was the oldest child of Joseph Daly “Pace” Byers and Jimmie Frances Garner Byers. She had two younger brothers, William Joseph “Billy Joe” Byers and Robert James Byers. She married Charles Edward Brown in Bingen, Arkansas on April 4, 1943 and graduated from Nashville High School that same year.

The couple quickly relocated to Chicago, Illinois where Charles prepared to serve in World War II. While he was in the war, Virginia lived and worked in Chicago; after the war the couple moved to Little Rock where Charles attended the University of Arkansas. The couple had two sons. Charles Michael Brown was born in Nashville, Arkansas in 1947 and James Garner Brown was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1950. Charles and Virginia lived in Texas while Charles served as an officer in the US Air Force as a flight instructor from 1949-1953 during the Korean War. The family later moved to Tempe, AZ where Charles began his career with the FAA at Sky Harbor Airport and Virginia enrolled at Arizona State University. She received her BA in Education with a teaching certificate in 1963. In 1964 the family relocated to their permanent home of Longmont, CO where Charles began work as a controller at the Longmont Air Route Traffic Control Center and Virginia began teaching at Old Columbine Elementary. During this time she enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado where she earned her MA in Education; she later transferred to Longmont Estates Elementary where she taught 5th and 6th grades. She retired in the mid-1980s. Virginia was a long-time member of Westview Presbyterian Church in Longmont, serving as a Deacon, Elder, and Stephen Minister. She later became a member of Central Presbyterian Church in Longmont. Virginia was a fabulous cook who loved holidays with her family, baking homemade pecan, pumpkin, and sweet potato pies on Thanksgiving, her “Elvis” biscuits on Christmas morning, and fixing black-eyed peas and cornbread on New Year’s Day. She always had logic puzzles and crosswords at hand, and enjoyed playing Words with Friends on her iPad with family members well into her 90s.

She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers, and husband of 73 years. She is survived by her two sons, Charles and his wife Mary of Los Alamos, NM, and Jim and his wife Janel of Longmont, as well as three grandchildren, Cathy Brown of Longmont, Lauren Brown and her wife Katie Koivisto and their daughter Mira of Denver, and Logan Brown and his wife Leah and their children Arlo and Avery of Livingston, MT, and several nieces and nephews.