Laury J. Brown died Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in Lewiston. Born Laurace Julia Thorp, daughter of Leonard and Margaret Thorp, Laury was born on Dec. 17, 1938, in Duluth, Minn., the youngest of four children. She grew up in Cheney, Wash. and Moscow (her favorite) before graduating from Renton High School. She returned to the Palouse and worked in Pullman at a local dry cleaning business, where she met “that Brown boy” and eventually married him on April 12, 1958. Allen D. Brown, known to many as “Brownie,” was her lifelong love and mainstay. Daughters Marilyn Dawn and Sharon Leslie were born to Laury and Al in Pullman in 1961 and 1962.
After the girls were in school, Laury went to work at Pullman’s Empire Department store until it closed. She then began her 23-year career at Washington State University, first in Publications and Printing and later in the Distance Degree Program (now Global Campus).
Laury loved their country place on Sunshine Road, their horses, cats, Freebie the dog and many other critters over the years. She drew horses and cats beautifully but claimed to be unable to draw anything else.
Upon her retirement, Laury and Al moved to Clarkston for the warmer climate, the longer growing season, the fishing and to be closer to daughter Marilyn and her family.
In retirement, Laury enjoyed her cat Angel, visiting family and friends, window-shopping, going for drives with Al, eating out occasionally and – true to the daughter of a librarian – especially loved to read, a love she has passed down to her daughters.
In her last few years, dementia began to claim Laury’s memory and personality, but she hid it pretty well for a long time. It took her in the end.
Laury’s parents, her siblings, Doug, Terrie and Marshall, and four nephews predeceased her. She is survived at their Clarkston home by her husband of nearly 65 years, Al, her daughters Marilyn (Brian) Brown and Sharon (Phillip Morgan), granddaughters Laura (Erich) Mietenkorte, Jamie Morgan, Kacie (Ryan) Collin, grandsons Sorin and Emanuel Morgan, great-granddaughter Edith Collin and several nieces and nephews.
A future gathering will be held later in the spring. Gifts in Laury’s memory may be sent to the Washington State University Foundation for the Good Samaritan Fund in the College of Veterinary Medicine. P.O. Box 641925, Pullman, WA 99164-1925.
