The woman known affectionately around the entire Southern Downs as Mrs Brown has been laid to rest in Warwick.
Mrs Brown, Jennifer Anne Brown, call me Jen – her staff at McDougall and Sons reminisced, was the wife of well-known stock and station agent Jim Brown. She started work at Mc Dougall and Sons I 1983 selling real estate after the family moved to the Warwick area from Dirranbandi, 39-years ago.
The couple went on to buy shares in the business in 1984 and purchase it outright in 1991. When Jim died in 1997 Jenny became the sole owner of McDougall and Sons, one of the oldest continuing livestock selling agencies in Queensland now in it’s 133 year, for the next 25 years becoming a much loved and respected member of the community.
Jennifer Anne Brown was born on 11 August 1936, the first child of Jack and Bessie Bayliss of Mitchell, big sister to Robyn and Val.
She was raised on the family sheep and cattle property “Rosedale” and attributed her arthritis in later life to numerous falls off her horse Paddy.
Jennifer started her education being home schooled before attending Mitchell State School before going away to Glennie in Toowoomba for her senior years. She loved school, learning the violin and piano of which she was very accomplished.
Her working life started in the Mitchell National Bank and she enjoyed a very active social life including tennis, picnics, parties, singalongs and balls. Her mother Bessie was a gifted sewer and producd many beautiful ball gowns on her old Singer swing machine. She met her husband Jimi at school in Mitchell and they were married on 21 September 1963, starting their married life in Roma where Jim worked for Winchcomb Carson. Their two children were born in Roma, Cathy in 1964 and Sue in 1966.
Jim was transferred to Dirranbandi in 1968, spending eight years there with Jennifer taking an active role in the local community. It was not unusual for her to knock out more than 15 sponge cakes in the old wood stove in a day for various local fetes.
When in it was time for their daughters to go to high school Jim sought a transfer to Warwick.
With her daughters at high school she obtained her real estate licence and joined Jim, who was by now part of McDougal and Sons.
McDougalls became an important part of her life and she continued to run the business when she lost Jim to cancer in 1997.
Her family and cats were also a big part of her life too and she was the matriarch of the family with her daughters, grandchildren Robert, Annie, Sarah, Hannah and James and her great grandchildren Alex and Oliver all looking to her for her opinion and guidance.
Sadness struck the family in 2021 when her beloved daughter Caty died after a long illness and her health began to decline soon after. But through it all granddaughter Hannah said her grandmother maintained her sense of humour, interest and knowledge of cooking (which she past on to the staff at the Oaks where she spent her final two months).
Mrs Brown passed away on 20 December but her family, both blood and work, believe she left a legacy of generosity, humour, courage and honesty.
