Janice Carol (Reed) Brown (1943 - 2026)

   Janice Carol Reed was born in Macon Missouri on 18 October 1943 to Helma Serece (Jones) Reed and Roy Kenneth Reed. Within a short time, her parents divorced and Jan and her mother moved to Bevier MO to live with her maternal grandparents, Julia and Ed Jones. The path of Jan and her mother is obscure for several years, school friends thought she had lived in Moberly MO before they moved to Maryville MO where Jan graduated from Maryville High School in 1961. Jan then moved to Omaha Nebraska where she worked as a secretary and married Richard Altrock, moving with him to Boulder Colorado where he attended graduate school and she worked as a legal secretary. They moved to Sunspot NM and Jan gave birth to twin boys, Craig and Chris, in March 1968. When they entered school in Cloudcroft NM, she began a lifetime career volunteering in the elementary classroom. In 1977, she and Richard divorced and she married Douglas Brown and they moved to Las Cruces and she  gave birth to Jeffery in October 1979. When he began school, Jan again returned to the classroom as a Jornada Elementary Volunteer Teacher’s Aid. In 1990, Jan was hired as an Educational Assistant, and worked in K, 1, 2 and multi-age K-1-2 classrooms, retiring in 2004. Jan continued to volunteer in the classrooms at Hillrise Elementary and Mesilla Elementary for several more years.

            At the urging of her son Jeffery, she began regular morning walks through her neighborhood, becoming good friends with all the dog walkers, their dogs and her many neighbors. She was universally considered the most kind and sweet lady. Jan continued walking until days before she died after a brief illness on 23 August 2026 from complications of Alzheimer’s dementia. She is survived by her husband, three sons, and five grandchildren. A celebration of her life will be held at the Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum on 7 November from 12:00 to 2:00pm.