Nina May (Corbett) Brown was born in Rohnerville on January 8, 1931. She spent her childhood in Alton, Rio Dell and Carlotta, graduating from Fortuna High School and Humboldt Teacher’s College.

She married Robert Brown in June of 1950 moving to the Brown family ranch at Centerville, where she lived for sixty-eight years. Nina raised five children, creatively stretching every penny by growing and preserving every food she could lay her hands on, while keeping the books and answering the phone for Robert S. Brown Complete Water Systems. In her spare time, she created amazing artwork and handcrafts to share with her community.

She had a huge network of extended family and friends all of whom she loved without reserve. She held a deep faith in her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, believing strongly in the power of community prayer reaching across perceived lines between saints and sinners of all faiths and persuasions whenever she saw the need to move a mountain. She had a brilliant mind and loved to learn and teach with games that children played for fun while accidentally learning to read, write, and do arithmetic.

She taught briefly at the one-room Island School and as the assistant kindergarten teacher at Ferndale Elementary. She was an emergency tutor for many local children. She was a faithful wife caring for Robert until his death in 2011. She had a passion for local history, mining the stories of her Brown-Hilgardener-Gerand, Corbett-Swain-Reas-Ross, and Felt-Klingenberg-Crank-Miller families as well many others, contributing details to many articles published by the Ferndale Museum.

Having patched her share of worn-out garments, she saw no value in the tattered tent that housed her soul. As her health declined she stayed in her home under the diligent care of Hospice with a full expectation that her work on earth was done. She was made of strong stuff and shared another three years with us as she liked to say, ”just camping here and waiting to go home.” Nina was very grateful for her incredible Hospice team, her daughter Maggie, and the ever faithful tag team Dona and Lance.

Nina is survived and loved by: sisters; Nancy Warden, Grace Dill (Danny), Diane Reading (John), Colleen Foster, and Janet Mattson (John), Sister-in-laws Marleen Snell, Dee Snell, and Jean Iskra, children Margaret Miranda Adams (Martin), Tom Brown (Violet), and George Brown (Hilery), son-in-laws Tim Wozich (Rhonda) and Jonathan Able, grandchildren; Mike Miranda II, Mark Miranda, Rebecca Drake, Joshua Adams, Adrianne Adams, Dwight Wozich, Clark Wozich, Joshua Brown, Jessica Brown, Mark Brown, D’Anne Barnhart, Travis Brown, Levi Brown, Calvin Brown, Caleb Brown, and Caitlin Brown, twenty one great grandchildren, countless cousins, nieces, and nephews, as well as many children of the heart, and her long time partners in prayer Sue Byers and Kathy Anderson.

With her passing on April 20, 2018, Nina joins: husband Robert Stanley Brown, parents George Corbett (Jenny) and Katy Snell (Paul Sr), brothers; Mike Snell, Paul ‘Gus’ Snell, and Farrell Swain, sister Freda Grubbs, brother-in-laws Joey Machado, Wayne Warden, and Cecil Grubbs, sister-in-law JoAnn Swain, daughters Katherine Browngardener, Roberta Brown Wozich and infant Teresa Brown.

The family invites all who knew and loved Nina to be our guests on Saturday May 19 at 1 p.m. for a BBQ lunch at 720 Poole Road, Ferndale, in memory and celebration of her life. Pray for sun and bring faith and/or umbrella as you see fit.In lieu of flowers, please make a contributions to:

• Hospice of Humboldt (hospiceofhumboldt.org), 3327 Timber Fall Court Eureka, CA 95503
• The Ferndale Museum (ferndale-museum.org) Post Office Box 431 Ferndale, CA 95536

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