NORWAY — “Sally” Sarosa Brown, one of Norway’s oldest residents passed away peacefully in the early morning on May 12, 2022 at Norway Center for Health and Re- habilitation. She was 101 and was born on September 12, 1920, in Annandale, N.J. Her maiden name was Sarosa Marie Mellick. An only child, her father was ill from the time she was very young and she was mostly raised on her grand-parents’ dairy farm, providing her a stable retreat that she treasured.

Sally fought through her own illnesses, missing a year of school after coming down with rheumatic fever. Once recovered, she returned and was able to skip a grade to catch up, and from there enrolled at Ryder College in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Then, Sally’s life literally took off, as she met her future husband Robert V. Brown Jr. at Calco Chemical Company in Bound Brook, N.J., where she worked as a secretary. As a young woman during World War II, she served as a volunteer airplane spotter in Plainfield, N.J. Her husband worked at Calco Chemical Company, TWA and later for The International Basic Economy Corporation based in New York City and owned by the Rockefeller family. Sally had two sons, Bob Brown of Lovell, and Jim Brown of Putnam Val- ley, N.Y.

The family’s fortunes took a hard turn when Sally’s husband, Brown Jr. passed away in 1960, forcing her to be a single parent as well as breadwinner at the age 38. She returned to the workforce to provide for her sons, first as a school librarian and then as an executive secretary at Geigy Chemical Co. in Ardsley, N.Y. The family continued to live in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. She was active with the local Cub Scouts, P.T.A. and Presbyterian Church in nearby Ossining, N.Y., teaching Sunday school and serving as a church deacon. She also participated in a hiking club with other women and studied geology in Croton. She liked to drive Ford Mustangs.

Sally was a terrific and loving mother who organized activities and vacations that brought the family to Maine and the White Mountains of New Hampshire where her sons would later establish vacation homes and she would ultimately reside.

When her sons became adults and started building their own lives, Sally continued her adventures without them. She loved to travel. After retiring, she lived briefly in Cocoa Beach, Fla., and then decided to drive across the United States with a friend in a van. They camped extensively and panned for gold “unsuccessfully.” Sally also spent time living in Tuscon, Ariz., San Diego, Calif., Fort Collins, Color., and Collbran, Colo. She would often come East to care for her grand-daughter Sarah, house-sit for her sons who both traveled for work, and watch over their various pets. Sally also taught herself how to make quilts and made over 20 that she passed onto her family as treasured heirlooms. She also studied geneology and spent several years researching and recording the history of both her and her husband’s families.

In 1995 — at the age of 75 — Sally moved to Norway. Sally spent the next 22 years in her home on Whitman Street, assisted by her close friend and caretaker Barry Small. She also raised two Labrador Retrievers, Missy and Quincey. In 2017 she moved into Norway Center for Health & Rehabilitation, where her zest for adventure and learning continued. She had coterie of loyal friends and family members that visited and wrote to her. She was a prolific letter writer, avid bird watcher, and reader who often read three books a week. When possible she liked to celebrate her birthdays with a glass of Coors beer at Boomers overlooking Pennesseewassee Lake. In her last weeks, she was well attended to by the nurses and staff at Norway Rehab who had befriended her, her loving sons, Bob’s wife Snowdie and Jim’s life partner Heather, and Sally’s close friend and care-giver Barry Small. She is also survived by her granddaughter Sarah Brown of New York City and her grandson Ian “Indy” Brown of Denver, Colo.

The family will host an intimate graveside memorial service in the coming weeks at the North Lovell Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are being made by Chandler Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 45 Main Street, South Paris.

For her friends mourning Sally’s passing, the family urges you to spend some time in nature, which Sally treasured, and think kindly of her and her incredible life.

Online condolences may be shared with her family at www. chandlerfunerals.com