Mary Braun

Mary Lee Morse Braun was born on June 25th, 1921 to John Earl & Cora Ann Walker. She joined our Lord in Heaven on Sunday, June 3rd, 2018 in Wenatchee WA. As a young child, she and her surviving sibling, Thelma, joined their father and step-mother Alice Walker, in Rayville Louisiana, where five more siblings were born into the family. She was the second oldest of seven in her family. Mary Lee met Ernest Alvin Morse when she was in Nursing College. He was visiting a patient and kept coming back even after the patient was gone. They dated and eloped several months later and were secretly married until she finished school, a student couldn’t be married during nursing school. She followed her husband to San Francisco while he served in the Navy during WWII and she worked in the naval hospital there during the war. They started their family four years later with the birth of their daughter Mary Marilyn (Summer) and later welcomed Linda Lee (Lindee). They settled in Anaheim, CA while raising their girls. Mary Lee worked at the University of California Irvine Medical Center as a nurse, charge nurse, and Director of Nursing Services (referred to as “The Little General”) until her retirement. She then moved to Washington state in the 1970’s. During her first years in Washington she became a breast cancer survivor at age 56 - she was a fighter (a common trait of hers) and was not ready to leave this world! After her battle with cancer she decided that she missed serving others and went back to work as a nurse in Vancouver, WA and worked until she was 70 years old. She spent over 50 years serving others. Upon the death of Ernie, her husband of almost 50 years, she moved to Wenatchee, WA to be closer to her family. She helped many people and received many recognitions and awards for her work ethic and integrity throughout the years. She even saved over 100 people in a nursing home fire with the help of only one nursing aide; an amazing feat since she was only 4 ft. 9 in. tall! She was a ball of energy and took charge of everything she did. She worked in the family candy store in the Wenatchee Valley Mall for several years and took up her hobbies of painting, sewing, quilting and becoming well versed in technology. That is when she met Frank Braun on Senior Friend Finder, a senior dating/friendship website. He, a widower, soon starting courting her and they married while in their 80’s and spent the next 10 years enjoying their twilight years together - traveling Europe, fixing up their home, and had many more exciting adventures. After losing Frank four years ago she continued sewing and learning more technology. She has endeared herself not only to her family but to anyone who met her. She’s the person you meet and makes you want to be a better person. Her heart could not keep that tiny little angel going any longer, just a few days short of her 97th birthday, and her mind 100% “with it” to the very end, God took her. She taught her family integrity, honesty, loyalty, hard work ethic and most of all love of family, not to mention an eye for fashion and the value of a good pair of black pants! Her grandchildren remember working with her in her enormous garden and then enjoying an amazing meal made with the vegetables harvested. She was a master cook and loved to feed all who entered her home. She is survived by two siblings & their spouses: Aline & Barry Gooch, Benny & Eloise Walker, and their families; her two daughters & husbands: Summer & Joe Federico, Lindee & Chris Akers; four grandchildren & spouses: Lana & Derek Carlson, Daryl Harrell, Jeff & Molly Akers, Natalie & Kaala Knell, and their families; three step-children & spouses: Merle & Swede Wennberg, Richard & Chris Braun, Jennifer Olson & Dean Parrish, and their families. The family would like to thank Highgate Senior Living for taking care of Mary for the last years of her life, she loved them and they are all considered family also. Mary has been so blessed by a huge family including 13 great grandchildren, 7 step grandchildren & 12 great step grandchildren. She will be missed by all who knew her. Thank you, Lord, for allowing us all to be touched by such a great lady that only You could have created. Mary joined her husband of 50 years, Ernest Alvin & husband of 10 years, Frank and four sisters, Thelma, Elizabeth, Imogene & Meril and three brothers, Earl Jr., Bobby and Nealy all in heaven this week. They are celebrating and having a huge feast together. Viewing will be June 15th 3-7 P.M. at Jones & Jones Betts Funeral Home, Wenatchee WA and a Reception June 16th at 2:00 P.M. at granddaughter, Lana Carlson’s, home. In Lieu of Flowers we have set up a Nursing Student Scholarship Fund in her name: The Mary Morse-Braun Nursing Benefit Fund Account # 1000759272 Cashmere Valley Bank 1100 Maple Street Wenatchee, WA 98801 Bank Routing Number 125104603

Tributes

Mary Braun

June 25, 1921 - June 3, 2018