Robyn Brown, of Montevideo, died Friday, April 14, 2017 surrounded by family at her home in rural Montevideo at the age of 56.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, April 21, 2017 at 2:00 PM at the United Methodist Church in Montevideo with Vicar Matt Danielson and Pastor Gwen Bohlke officiating. Burial will be at Sunset Memorial Cemetery.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, April 20 from 5:30-7:30 PM at the United Methodist Church in Montevideo with a prayer service at 7:30 PM. There will also be visitation at the church for one hour before the service on Friday. Arrangements have been made by Anderson-TeBeest Funeral Home in Montevideo.
Robyn Lee (Mills) Brown was born on June 1, 1960 in Granite Falls, MN. She was baptized and confirmed at Rosewood United Methodist Church. She graduated from Montevideo High School in 1978. She then attended the University of Minnesota, Morris and graduated from Granite Falls Vocational Technical Institute trained as a medical secretary. She went on to work in this position at the Chippewa County-Montevideo Hospital for seventeen years. She then made a career change and worked as the Human Resources Manager at Jennie-O Turkey Store in Montevideo for twenty years and was extremely dedicated to this position.
Robyn was united in marriage to Greg Brown, of rural Clarkfield, on June 20, 1980 at the Clarkfield Lutheran Church. They lived at their farm in Rural Boyd and then later in rural Montevideo. They had two children, Melissa in 1982 and Sarah in 1985.
Robyn served on the Montevideo Area Chamber Board of Directors and also on the Cultural Diversity Council. She was a member of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church of Baxter and taught Sunday school for thirteen years.
Robyn was passionate about and very talented at decorating and interior design. Not only did she enjoy decorating her own home and lake home, but frequently would drop off new décor and other accessories at her girls’ and parents homes. It was not uncommon for her daughters to walk into their homes and find a perfectly accented new candle or throw pillow. She described these accessories as “the jewels of the room”. Each Christmas she spent hours preparing the lake home for celebration, always down to the last detail. She very well could have been an event planner in her next career, although may have had trouble with deadlines as she could spend hours analyzing the “perfect color”.
Her time with family and friends was very precious to her. She enjoyed spending time at their lake home having bonfires, pontoon rides, and just getting away to rest and relax. She loved having her grandkids over for sleepovers, reading them books, taking them on wagon rides, and going to the park. She enjoyed girls’ weekends away with her mom and daughters, her four close high school friends, and best friend Lola. Typically shopping (usually for perfectly coordinated outfits for the grandkids), good coffee, manicures/pedicures, and frequenting a winery was how she spent her weekends away. She enjoyed attending “ABC” book club events, though rarely finished the book! She and Greg enjoyed sightseeing, whether it be up in Duluth, down in the Rochester area, or driving around Lac Qui Parle Lake. No matter what she was doing or how she was feeling, especially in the last five years, she always made sure to “Celebrate Life.”
She is survived by her husband, Greg; two children, Melissa (Allen) Anderson and Sarah (Matt) Van Gorp all of Montevideo; grandchildren: Jonas, Aubrey, Oliver, Oscar, and baby-to-be Van Gorp; her parents, Lynn and Maxine Mills of Montevideo; a brother, Tom Mills of Warrenville, IL; father-in-law, Merlyn Brown; as well as many other extended relatives and friends.
Preceding her in death were her grandparents, Ruth and Edwin Hagen, Maurice and Esther Mills, and mother-in-law, Dorothy Brown.
#celebratelife