Monica, aka Monica Lynn Brown, was born in Roseburg, Oregon, and grew up in the Pacific Northwest. She lived in several places but spent much of her childhood with her maternal grandparents, growing up alongside her aunts Kathy and Carol. She eventually attended Interlake High School and then went on to attend the University of Washington. After graduating, she went to work at Zetron where she met her husband, Timothy. When they decided to start a family, she left the workforce to return to college at Bellevue Community College to get a degree in early childhood education and to focus on raising and homeschooling their children.
Monica was fully committed to giving her children every opportunity possible. Over the years she became involved with or helped organize several home school enrichment programs, giving access to benefits and school resources that otherwise weren’t available for people educating at home. She volunteered and enrolled her children in recreational and premier sports programs, including soccer, basketball, baseball, tennis, and martial arts. She became involved with two 4-H groups: Teenage Gourmets, focused on home economics and crafts, and Muddy Paws, focused on dogs. She also volunteered at and enrolled her children in several children’s programs through the church.
Monica had a deep love for children and gave generously of her time and financial resources to help support children through the church and school systems. She was a Sunday school teacher, AWANA leader, volunteer for the Vacation Bible Adventures program, and coordinator for the church’s support program for Benson Hill Elementary. To help reduce food waste and help families in need, she became involved with various gleaning groups throughout her life, becoming known in her neighborhood for sharing the bread glean with anyone in need from her front porch.
Monica loved traveling and had the opportunity to visit most of the US, both coasts of Canada, and Israel. Her oldest daughter’s wedding introduced her to Hawaii, which became one of her great loves and a place she visited most Christmases from that point forward. She also loved to sail and spent several trips sailing around Lake Washington and the Puget Sound, including up to the San Juan Islands and even up to Canada.
She had a habit of welcoming friends, both her own and those of her children, into her life like family and showering them with love. She loved inviting people for meals, sailing trips, and vacations to show off all the places in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii that she had come to love. She encouraged others to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation around them and the opportunities they had. She had an infectious smile and laugh.
Monica dealt with seven different types of cancer throughout her life. She had her first diagnosis of skin cancer in the early 1990s and her final diagnosis of leukemia in May of 2022. Despite the many side effects and complications, she continued to live life. Through God’s blessing and her determination, she lived to see all her children become adults, to see two of her daughters married and another engaged, and to see the births of her three granddaughters. As much as she had enjoyed being a parent, Monica loved being a grandparent and spent much time showering her granddaughters with as much attention, joy, and love as her treatments and condition would allow. She was never happier than when she got to spend time with them whether they were at the zoo, the science center, AWANA, VBA, or just playing around at home.
Monica was a devoted follower of Christ throughout most of her adult life and worshiped with others at Westminster Chapel, First Baptist of Bellevue, and Trinity Baptist in Renton, along with numerous other churches she visited while on ministry or vacation. She will be dearly missed by all who knew her.
Monica went home to be with the Lord Thursday morning, August 3, 2023. She passed peacefully at home in Renton, surrounded by family and friends. She was 55 years old.
Her obituary can be found here.
