Almost two years to the day after she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Jennifer M. Brown passed away in the loving embrace of her husband at their home in Greenwich, CT on February 18, surrounded by her family. She was 80 years old.
Jennifer was born in a picturesque seaside village in Devon, England where she attended a one-room elementary school. To this day there remains a leather-bound ledger, recording her perfect attendance and grades. Later on, her family moved near to Chester where she enrolled at the Queen’s School. She received her Bachelor of Arts in French and Spanish from Sheffield University, during which time she spent semesters abroad at the Sorbonne and Zaragoza University.
After graduation, she relocated to London where she was recruited to work for the Foreign Office in Intelligence, and later became an executive at a large advertising agency. In 1966, she met her James Bond – Michael — when she attended a tea party at Michael’s sister’s flat. It was love at first sight for him. They remained in love and happily married for 55 years.
After emigrating from Woldingham, Surrey to Greenwich, Connecticut in 1982, Jennifer and Michael enjoyed a life full of great friendships, travel, gastronomy, culture, and sport. For 25 years, they owned a farm in South Woodstock, VT, eventually spending three months a year there. They visited 42 countries together, experiencing adventures such as skiing in the Italian Alps; biking through Europe with friends; attending kabuki theater in Kyoto and opera in Verona; climbing the Great Wall of China; snorkeling around the Galapagos Islands; riding horseback through the Brazilian Pantanal; and spotting rhinos on safari in Kenya. Jennifer delighted in sampling great wines and local delicacies during their travels such as raw ant eggs in Mexico, freshly harvested mussels in Albania and guinea pig in Peru. When in Greenwich, she stayed active tending to her garden, playing golf at Round Hill Club and tennis at The Field Club, and hiking with the Greenwich Hiking Club.
Aside from her family and friends, Jennifer’s main passion was gardening and horticulture, especially daffodils. She was a member of the Woodstock Garden Club, past president of Green Fingers Garden Club, and vice president of the Greenwich Daffodil Society. She was a longtime Garden Club of America and American Daffodil Society Judge, for which she received several awards. Her own entries into the annual Greenwich Daffodil Show and other exhibits earned numerous ribbons throughout the years. Jennifer loved nothing more than sharing her horticultural expertise and knowledge with others, and was a mentor to many aspiring daffodil judges. She planted over 10,000 daffodil bulbs at her home in mid-country Greenwich, which bloom each spring, reminiscent of a William Wordsworth poem. Her family liked to say that she held a Ph.D. in daffodils, as she could identify and knew the Latin names for hundreds of daffodil varieties.
Jennifer loved people and leaves behind a host of devoted friends in England, Greenwich and Vermont. She was cherished by all for her kindness, loyalty, generosity, and modesty. Her understated elegance was always paired with her trademark high-wattage smile and joie de vivre. She remained the personification of a true English lady at heart, displaying impeccable manners and grace under pressure, relishing the monthly delivery of her Country Life magazine, and observing tea time most afternoons.
Jennifer is survived by her husband William Michael; daughters Melissa Grieco (John) of Greenwich and Camille Koff (Jon) of North Haven; grandchildren Austin and Juliet; brother Roger of Pwlhelli, Wales; as well as several nieces and a nephew.
“When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze” -William Wordsworth