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Obituary for M Gretchen Brown
M Gretchen Brown of Mason, passed away at home due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. Born in Rochester, NH on May 14, 1946, she was the daughter of Ralph Wood and Ester Colby. She attended Rochester Public Schools and graduated from Spaulding High School. She then attended Plymouth State and received a degree in Physical Education. After graduating from Plymouth, she began her career in Sept 1970 at Mascenic Regional High School in New Ipswich, NH. She held that position for 35 years. While at Mascenic, she coached field hockey, varsity girls’ basketball, softball, and then later on girls’ JV basketball. She also became a field hockey official. She was part of the outing club which did cross country skiing in the white Mountains, to canoeing the Androscoggin River in the spring. She was a class advisor to many senior classes and traveled to London, Paris, and Athens as a chaperone. In 1980, Gretchen married Harlan West from Mason, NH. They bought a small multi-colored fixer upper in Mason and along with his four children, made it a home. Gretchen loved the outdoors, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, and working at Parker’s Maple Barn on weekends during sugar season collecting maple sap, and spending summers at the family camp on Kingswood Lake in Brookfield, NH. She also made many trips to Prince Edward Island Canada to visit cousins. In February of 1994, Harlan suddenly passed away and in 2003, Gretchen married her longtime friend Wallace Brown who ironically was also in the maple business. They finished working on the house and added a sugar house to the barn. Gretchen loved her Mason home, feeding the birds, working in her flower garden, and taking walks in the woods. Gretchen was also a member of the Mason Congregational Church. She served on many committees and helped serve many suppers and luncheons for weddings and funerals. She is survived by her husband Wallace Brown; her stepchildren, David West of Providence, RI, Lisa Blamer of Lititz, PA, Mike West of Asheville, NC, Diane Brace of New Boston, NH, and Bryan Brown of Hopkinton, MA; as well as 15 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Family and friends are warmly welcomed to attend calling hours on Saturday June 26, 2021, at the Mason Congregational Church, 33 Valley Road Mason, NH, from 1 pm -4 pm, followed by a service at 4. All services will be held outside under a tent. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Gretchen’s name to the NH Special Olympics, https://www.sonh.org/.
