Leila Brown passed away at the age of 76 December 24,2022. She is survived by her husband of 57 years Russ Brown, daughter Kristine (Jay Scribner), daughter Karen (Steve Jordan), younger sister Lis Dodd, three Scribner grandchildren Zack (Cheyenne), Jack and Sammie, two great-grandson’s Micah and Charlie. She was preceded in death by her Mother Ragnhild Rode, Father Orla Rode and older Brother Carlo Rode.
She was born in Denmark in 1946. At the age of 2 or 3 her family, along with other family members, moved to New Zealand. At 13 her family moved to the San Francisco CA area. While in college she married Russ in December 1965 and he was soon drafted into the Army. While in the Army, they were blessed with daughters Kristine in 1967 in Fort Belvoir Virginia and daughter Karen in 1968 in Ft Carson Colorado. They enjoyed Colorado so much that when discharged from the Army they returned to the Greeley area in 1969.
In 1973, they moved to Richland WA after researching the education system and amount of construction work in the area. After the kids started school, she went to work on the Hanford site in 1975. Over the next 24 years she worked as a Secretary for Westinghouse Hanford, Washington Public Supply System (now Energy Northwest) and Bechtel Hanford.
She led a busy life between working and raising two girls active in different sports. Yet she still found time to be involved with getting a Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) started in her kids’ middle school. She also volunteered for countless functions, organized banquets, arranging group outings for salmon fishing and white-water rafting trips. She was active in the fly-fishing club and as a volunteer instructor for Women in the Outdoors organization functions. She loved gardening, beachcombing and camping, especially with the children.
A new adventure began in 2003 when she started to spend time between Richland WA, Valdez AK and Delta Junction AK. In Richland, she loved spending time with her daughter Karen and family. They enjoyed shopping, getting their nails done and eating out.
Her many trips to Valdez visiting Kristine and family, were filled with great family memories and the chance to see the kids grow up. Spending a couple of Christmases with them was truly a blessing for her. The majority of time was with her husband, who was working near Delta. While in Delta, she made several dear friends that frequently met for lunch, did crafts together and attended Red Hat Society events. While in Alaska she enjoyed the wildlife and for excitement took a couple of float plane trips to remote rivers to search for salmon along with the brown bears.
We were blessed with a loving, caring Mother and Wife whose family was everything to her. Throughout her adult life, she epitomized the meaning of love, determination, devotion, strength, generosity and compassion. Leila will be greatly missed but we take solace in knowing that our angel is at peace. Her love will always live in our hearts.