Phoebe Jean Flynn 1939 - 2021

Phoebe Jeanne Flynn was born October 17, 1939, the oldest of three children to Vernon and June Rogallo in Sanger, California.

After high school, Phoebe followed her kind heart and became a registered nurse. She married Floyd Brown, a civil engineer and lawyer (deceased). While raising her four children, she received a Bachelor of Arts from Chapman College. Expanding upon her clinical nursing experience, she helped establish and manage Interplan, one of northern California’s first preferred provider organizations. She retired in 1999 and married Charles Flynn, civil engineer (deceased).

For Phoebe, retirement was filled with many pursuits. She became a Master Gardner, volunteered at Willamette Valley Medical Center and the McMinnville Public Library, and acted as a Docent at the Evergreen Aviation Museum. She was a longtime member of P.E.O., a philanthropic organization focused on helping women pursue higher education. She served as an officer on the Hillside Resident Association and chaired committees advocating for scholarships for Hillside employees and supporting a nonprofit foundation for services to seniors.

Phoebe loved the outdoors and traveled throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as taking many trips to Europe, Alaska, Hawaii, New Zealand, and most of the U.S. national parks. Her competitive spirit was infectious and sometimes hilarious. Without training, she completed an impromptu round-trip hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. To be clear, she did not enjoy hiking, but earlier in life did enjoy dragging all four young children up the Cole Creek Trail, fraudulently billed as a “gentle three-mile hike."

She loved pinochle and would play cards and other games with family and friends for extended hours. Ever the planner looking to improve her strategy, she would recap the results of the previous evening’s game (sporting event or television plot), noting how things could have come out differently. She was an avid and accomplished crafter and enjoyed sewing quilts and creating intricate greeting cards for family and friends throughout her recent life, until her death on December 4, 2021, in McMinnville, Oregon. She was a loving wife, mother and grandmother. She is greatly missed.

She is survived by her sisters, Diana Clemmer of Corona Del Mar, and Mary Corwin of O’Brien; her children, Katherine Meyer of Portland, James Brown of San Francisco, Linda Brown of Sunnyvale, and Michael Brown of Sacramento; and five grandchildren. 

As Phoebe requested, there will be no funeral service. The family will gather at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Phoebe's name can be made to Willamette Valley Medical Center Volunteers, a nonprofit organization that encourages and supports higher education to train healthcare workers in the community: WVMC Volunteers, 2700 S.E. Stratus Avenue, McMinnville OR 97128, (503) 435-6131, Option 1, Extension 8399.