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Janet Lucille Farrington Brown was born on April 7, 1938 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was the second child of Owen and Lucille Farrington. At the age of 5 her family moved to Alliance, Nebraska where her father ran a drug store called Holstein’s, the town’s oldest establishment. Janet attended school in Alliance from kindergarten to graduation. Janet had two siblings: her older brother, Dan, and a younger sister, Mary Jo. In high school she was a cheerleader, which gave her the opportunity to be involved in many school events and activities. It was through games and music competitions where she came to know the Ogallala native, Fred Brown.

After graduating from high school in 1956, Janet came to Doane College in Crete, Nebraska where she studied psychology. It was here where she became closer to Fred, who was a sophomore there. Janet is known by friends and family for her keen intuition, it was perhaps this intuition that inspired her to ask Fred out during his senior year. After he graduated from Doane in 1959, they were married on June 19. The couple spent their first years together in Philadelphia, where Fred was attending graduate school; it was here where they attended many parties and got to know various interesting people.

After Fred finished his graduate studies, the couple moved to Athens, West Virginia, where the Browns had their second child, Jane-Stewart (1963). Although Janet was a stay-at-home mom, she was by no means inactive in the social realm or the community. As Janet would say, they had a very “cosmopolitan” life in West Virginia, where they attended many parties and got to know various interesting people.

Another important aspect of Janet and Fred’s life that began in West Virginia was the beginning of their political involvement. They had particularly been awakened to the cause of the Civil Rights Movement; they joined a large group at Bluefield State, a predominately black college, and they were involved in many activities such as pickets and marches. This was where Janet and Fred were molded into the red-blooded Democrats they continued to be the rest of their lives.

Her political involvement would carry over when the couple moved to St. Peter, Minnesota in 1965. Here, Janet and Fred would be involved in local politics on behalf of Eugene McCarthy against Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1968 election. They supported McCarthy mainly as a protest to the Vietnam War. Janet states that she had once had lunch with McCarthy here…or at least, she had lunch “next to him.” In St. Peter, the Browns would continue their active social life where they met and in some cases, housed, many friends whom they would keep in contact with many years since. It was also where the “second wave” of Brown children were born: Ian Farrington and MaryHelen. There was a gap between the two pairs of children, as Monty was nine years older than Ian.

In 1973, the Brown’s moved to Storm Lake, Iowa. Despite the four children to look after, Janet continued her community involvement. She and Fred supported Jimmy Carter in his campaign for presidency and she even met Carter twice.

In 1987, Janet and Fred moved to Crete, Nebraska where Fred began his presidency at their alma mater, Doane College, where they have spent their lives even after Fred retired in 2005. They now own a large plot of land called Farrington Acres, an investment they both realize has been a lot of work.

To those who have the pleasure of knowing her, Janet is a unique human being, particularly because of her intuition, creativity, and boldness. Janet’s intuition, which is almost always true, has helped Fred throughout their years together. For example, if Janet feels a person who is looking at the property for three hours is a “professional shopper”, they probably are. Usually when her intuition is incorrect, it’s only because it needs re-evaluation. For instance, her intuition to buy a puppy may have been off, but it was still a good idea to get a Siamese kitten later.

She is also bold enough to state her opinion, no matter how harsh it may be. If she thinks you’ve sewn a terrible apron or given your baby a dumb name, she will be outright with it. Or, if you are not a person she will be frank with, she will use pointed tactics to get her message across. For instance, if one of her kids has a friend who is eating sloppily, she will lecture her kid on proper eating protocol, even if they are doing it correctly.

Truly, Janet’s boundless creativity has taken many forms throughout her life. She always had a love for sewing and quilting, though she never took any lessons. Once she even attempted to write a mystery book, although after 70 pages she lost interest. Janet came to find that she didn’t like long term things, but for the short term projects, she would excel.

Throughout her life, Janet Farrington Brown has made a huge impact on those around her. Even if her advice or wisdom isn’t always directly followed, it gives you something to consider or think about and opens up new ideas. People like Janet are few and far between; she is an invaluable and irreplaceable part of the lives of her friends and family.