Veronica Brown passed peacefully on May 26th, 2009 of a heart attack. Veronica was born on March 5th, 1921 in Karlsbad, Sudeten Germany to Josef and Maria Stark. She met Carl Karle, a GI and native of Buffalo, New York, after the war. Veronica was one of the first war brides to immigrate to the United States in 1946.
Carl and Veronica were married in Buffalo, New York, where both of their daughters, Susan and Judy were born. They took in Veronica’s nephew, thirteen year old Werner, in 1951. Conditions in Germany were so bad at that time that Werner’s parents thought that Germany would never recover. Both Veronica and Carl made a big difference in Werner’s life. Carl’s work took the family from Buffalo to Kansas City, Missouri, later to New Orleans, Louisiana, and finally to Littleton, Colorado.
Their marriage ended after twenty years. Veronica met Jim Brown in Denver in 1977. They were married on July 7, 1978 in Vail, Colorado. They made their Home in Beaumont, Texas, where Jim was employed as an Instrumentation Engineer. During their thirty years of marriage, they delighted in visiting the U.K. and other countries in Europe including the Czech Republic and Veronica’s hometown of Karlovy Vary (formerly Karlsbad) in that country. They also traveled to Alaska, New Zealand and many other parts of the United States. One of her favorite trips was to see the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, California.
Veronica was known for taking hundreds of photos on those trips and would have the picture albums perfectly organized almost as soon as they returned. These photos told a great story of their travels. No matter where she lived, Veronica always had a beautiful garden. She had a skill of picking just the right types of flowers and bushes to bring out their best in the growing season. Their house in Beaumont was always easy to find because of the colorful wooden flower cutouts that Jim fabricated and fastened on the outside of their fence. With the bird houses and other items that Jim had constructed, their yard was like a small oasis on Park Meadow Drive. Her daughters both feel they inherited their gardening skills from Veronica. Jim and Veronica had a happy marriage until Jim’s death in January 2009.
Her parents, her brother Gustav Stark and her sister Gertrude Stark, preceded Veronica in death. She is survived by her daughter Susan Siddall and husband Roger, her daughter Judy Rogers and husband Steve, and her nephew Werner Stark and wife Phyllis. Veronica is also survived by James Jr. and wife Nancy, Bonnie Marrs Smith and husband Adrian, Rebecca Brown, and by Robert Brown, and wife Daroma.
Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Broussard’s.
