Marilyn W. Brown (a.k.a. Mimsy to her family) passed away peacefully in her sleep on Friday, November 18 at the age of 95. The only child of Carl and Vesta Weihe, Marilyn grew up in Detroit during the Great Depression and attended the University of Michigan during WWII. It was there she met her husband, W. Kendall (Bill) Brown, after his service in the Philippines. Like so many couples of the era, they moved to a Levittown-like planned community on Long Island to start their family. And it was here that Marilyn made dear forever friends and began raising her three daughters, Barbara, Claudia, and Cynthia while her husband rose through the ranks on Madison Avenue. The family moved to New Canaan in 1964, and Marilyn's life seemed idyllic for several years. With the girls to raise and new friends made, she enjoyed playing bridge, golfing, cocktail parties, travel, and attending the theater.

Fans of Mad Men who knew the family then might think the television show and the excesses of its leading man were a story of art imitating life. Theirs. And so when the couple divorced in the early seventies, Marilyn went back to school, got her masters degree in education from Connecticut Western State College, and began teaching 4th graders at Ridgebury Elementary School in Ridgefield. Now a single parent with three girls, a dog, and two cats to raise, Marilyn took on two other evening and weekend jobs. At a time when women had to fight to even own their own credit cards, Marilyn showed remarkable resilience and resolve. She chopped wood to heat the house, never letting the tightrope she walked to keep food on the table and the creditors at bay dampen her bright spirit.

An active member of Saint Michael's Lutheran Church, she somehow found time to teach Sunday school, serve on the Altar Guild, lend her alto voice to the choir, and lead a Girl Scout troop. Her home was always a welcoming refuge. She took in both her own mother and her ex-husband's mother when they could no longer care for themselves. Her daughters' friends frequently sought solace in her "non[1]judgmental" household. And she had an uncanny knack for finding and nurturing wounded and baby birds and woodland critters, and adopting lost and unwanted pets. A gift she's passed on to her girls.

As her salary increased and her daughters became independent, life got easier. And when she retired in 1992, she took up swimming and enjoyed traveling again and visiting with her friends, daughters, sons[1]in-law, and five adoring grandchildren: Dash and Tucker Jepsen, sons of Claudia and Chuck Jepsen; Kendall and Valentina Brown, daughters of Barbara Brown; and Corban Basile, son of Cynthia Brown and Joseph Basile.

In 2004, she downsized to Harbor House in Stamford where she continued to pursue her passion for making new friends, and giving back: She became a Peer Counselor for Wilton Nursing and Home Care, and volunteered as an aide to a first grade class at Rogers Elementary School.

Marilyn moved to Meadow Ridge Continuing Care Retirement Community in 2014 and lived independently there until COVID-19 hit and she moved to the community's assisted living wing. Her family is extremely grateful to the nurses, doctors and aides there who gave her such great care and respect in her final years.

Marilyn was an incredible woman, who will be missed by many. She was a devoted mother and a strong role model with a big heart, a great sense of humor, and an unfailing love of the color blue. A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on December 17, 2022 at Saint Michael's Church in New Canaan. If you wish to honor Marilyn, do something nice and unexpected for someone else. Or you can come to the aid of creatures in need by donating to one of her favorite charities: the ASPCA and Humane Society of the United States.