Juanita Brown died in Durango on Feb. 13 at age 71, one day before celebrating the 46th anniversary of her marriage.
Born Nov. 5, 1934, in St. Joseph, Mo., to Leslie and Emma Potts, she moved to Colorado in 1958. After living with an aunt and uncle in Pueblo, she moved to Allison, a small town near Durango. There, she worked as a court clerk for the Southern Ute tribe, an experience that instilled a lifelong interest in courtroom procedure and strategy.
In 1960, she married Glen Brown and later worked as a bookkeeper for the family construction business he ran with his brothers. They lived near Durango in a home they built on property purchased from his parents.
As she grew older, Juanita Brown increasingly succumbed to a temptation she never knew as a child – retail therapy. She liked to go shopping and proved an easy mark for trinkets.
“Retailers were always happy when they saw her coming in the door,” said her daughter, Diane Shaline of Durango.
During her childhood, Juanita Brown owned exactly one toy, a doll. While she loved her doll, she wished for toys her parents couldn’t afford.
She took full advantage of being an adult with a family income that allowed impulse purchases, particularly after she became a grandmother.
“She just loved to see her grandchildren’s faces when she gave them things,” said Shaline, who coaxed her mother into hosting annual garage sales that kept the clutter in check.
Juanita Brown became her husband’s chief caretaker after he suffered a heart attack following his mother’s death.
When he recuperated, doctors diagnosed Type 2 diabetes, followed by a second heart attack that occurred three years ago as the family celebrated Father’s Day.
Just as he recovered from that heart attack, Glen Brown fell, breaking his ankle. He couldn’t walk. His wife spent her days caring for him and for two granddaughters, ages 5 and 6.
“There were no breaks in life for her for the past 10 or 12 years,” Shaline observed. “She’s 71 years old, taking care of everybody, and still doing the laundry, cooking and cleaning. She was always taking care of people.”
Juanita Brown took a maternal interest even in complete strangers. She avidly followed the murder trial of Scott Peterson, the Californian convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci.
“It was crazy, almost like Laci was a relation of hers,” Shaline said. “She wanted to make sure that Scott Peterson got what he deserved.”
In addition to her husband and daughter, survivors include sons Eric Brown of Albuquerque and Mark and Kevin Brown, both of Durango; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
