Louise Brown was born on July 26th, 1925 in Mesa, Arizona. She was born to Mary Young and Harold Brown and was the third of five children. She grew up on the family farm. She did well in elementary school and skipped a grade. Then she attended Tempe Union High School and graduated in 1942. The same year she began her studies at BYU taking general studies, music, and languages.
Louise was very close to her Grandmother, Mary Halls on her father's side of the family. She suffered from bouts of paranoia and depression throughout her life which created challenges for those who knew her and were related to her. She was raised in the Mormon church but after marriage to Howard Charles Barrett in 1947 she investigated other Christian religions including the Catholic church. She remained a devout Christian throughout her life. Louise loved books about religion and music as well as authors as diverse as James Michener and JRR Tolkien. She played the violin and the piano throughout her life. She was a devoted opera fan, listening to the Metropolitan Opera every Saturday on the radio at full volume. She continued her education later in life at Glendale Community College.
She had seven children, two of whom were stillborn twins who were born after her first child was born. Her living children are Justine Cheney ( Gary, deceased in 2010), Francene Beeny (Mark), Howard Barrett, Nannette Lindsey (Danny) and Suzette Barrett. She had 5 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.
Her husband Howard predeceased her in August 1990. They were married on September 27, 1947. They were married for 43 years. Louise retired to Sun City Arizona and remained until her death in February 2002. She enjoyed living in Sun City very much and was involved in many social and church activities involving bible study.
March 1, 2016: Hello Kent. So glad to hear from you.
I do have some sad news for you. My sister, Francene Louise Beeny, died on January 31st, 2016. She died of cancer of the pancreas and liver. By the time it was discovered she was at stage 4 and there was no opportunity for surgery because it was already in her liver. She had chemo and even a clinical trial of chemo until the doctors said she was too weak for further treatment. She went into hospice care at home for one month and then passed away. We had a memorial on February 20th. Her husband wanted to wait for 3 weeks. She was 64 and was married to Mark Beeny for 45 yrs. The strange thing is we don't have any cancer on our side of the family, just heart disease. Justine