Cordelia Dee Dee" Brown

Cordelia Philips Brown Cordelia (?Dee Dee?) Philips Brown passed away at her home in Prescott, Arizona on November 9, 2007, after a yearlong battle with lung cancer.  Cordelia Lundy Philips was born in Seattle, Washington on May 21, 1927.  She liked to tell her family that was the day that Charles Lindbergh landed in Paris.  Dee Dee was the first daughter of Jane Baker Philips and John Olmsted Philips.  She attended schools in Seattle, graduating from Garfield High School, followed by attendance at the University of Washington, where she planned to major in premedical studies.  Other events intervened: in 1945, Dee Dee met her future first husband, Cadet Rodney (?Rod?) Balaam Carter, who, at the time, was attending training at a U.S. Navy installation in the Seattle area.  After a three-year courtship, Dee Dee and Ensign Carter married on  August 27, 1948.  In September of the following year, the first of their six children, Rodney Balaam, Jr. was born. Dee Dee enjoyed an active life as the spouse of a Navy officer and mother of six children.  Rod?s distinguished career as a Navy jet pilot led them to duty stations around the U.S., including Seattle, Washington; Corpus Cristi, Texas; Monterey, California; Newport, Rhode Island;  Jacksonville, Florida; and, finally, Lemoore Naval Air Station in California, where Rod was based while serving as Carrier Air Group Commander on the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. On October 26, 1966, Comdr. Carter and 43 fellow officers and enlisted men were killed in  an accidental shipboard fire in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. Dee Dee subsequently moved her children to San Diego, where they finished their childhoods, all graduating from local high schools.  Following a tradition of charity volunteer work since high school, Dee Dee was active as a volunteer at Scripps Memorial Hospital and the San Diego Zoological Society.  While in San Diego, Dee Dee held employment at San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, Scripps Miramar Ranch, and Coast Packing Material, Inc., where she met her future second husband, Owen Boyd Brown (originally of Huntington Beach, California).  Dee Dee and Owen married on December 17, 1971, enjoying nearly ten years together in San Diego with their family, before retiring to Prescott in 1980. During her 27 years in Prescott, Dee Dee continued her volunteerism, serving as a member and active volunteer with several community organizations, including the Phippen Museum, the Prescott Fine Arts Charter Auxiliary, the the Prescott Symphony Guild, and the Yavapai Regional Medical Center and Auxiliary.  She was active in the Prescott Art Docents, serving as President of that organization in 1988-89.  She enjoyed traveling with Owen, painting, gardening, cooking, entertaining friends and family, playing bridge with many of her women friends, and reading.  She doted on her husband, children and their spouses, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her many friends in Prescott and around the country. Dee Dee will be remembered as a loving, thoughtful, funny, and caring friend, wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Dee Dee is survived by her family: Rodney Balaam Carter II and his wife Janet of Oregon House, California; Katharine Jane Carter of Thousand Oaks, California; Christina Elizabeth Carter and her son Kellen Carter Tyrrell of Anchorage, Alaska and her fiancé, David Leroy Miller II of Mason, Michigan; Patricia Anne Carter of St. Petersburg, Florida; Anne Marie Haywood and her husband Ken and their children Rebekah, Paul, Sarah, and Hannah of Kingman, Arizona; stepson Allen Bruce Brown and his wife Leslie of La Jolla, California; step-grandson Daniel Brown and his wife Tamera and their children Emily and Logan of San Diego, California; and several Philips cousins in the Seattle area.  She was preceded in death by her sister Jill Philips, father John Philips, first husband Rodney Carter, youngest son John Carter, mother Jane Philips, and second husband of 35 years, Owen Brown, who passed away October 15, 2006. Dee Dee?s ashes will be scattered with those of her late husband Owen over the ocean off La Jolla, California.  A memorial reception will be held at the family home in Prescott over the Christmas holiday. Dee Dee?s family would like especially to extend its gratitude to the staff of Hospice Family Care, Inc.?s Prescott Program, all of whom provided such wonderful care for her during her last month of life.  The care provided by her many friends, neighbors, physicians, and other medical care personnel is also greatly appreciated. Contributions in Dee Dee?s memory can be made to the Hospice Family Care Foundation of Arizona (1550 S. Alma School Road, Ste 280 Mesa, AZ 85210; 480-889-1116) or to any charity of choice.