Coral Jeanne Brown Obituary (1940 - 2016)

Born Jul 26, 1940, Coral Jeanne Brown attended Salmon High School in Salmon, ID. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Coral Jeanne Brown.

Graduation Year	Class of 1958
Date of Birth	Jul 26, 1940
Date of Passing	Jun 01, 2016
About	Coral Jeanne Brown Petersen, age 75, peacefully passed away in Missoula Montana on Wednesday, June 1, 2016. Coral Jeanne (Brown) Petersen was born Friday, July 26, 1940, in Idaho Falls, Idaho to Scott and Doris Brown. She was the first of three children to be born to Scott and Doris, as Coral was later joined by her brother Bill and her sister Eve. Coral attended grade school in Salmon, and in the early 1950’s she and her family moved to Pocatello, Idaho. Two years later they made their way back to Salmon where they would remain. Growing up in Salmon Coral enjoyed going on outings with her family, fishing on the Salmon and Lemhi Rivers, and taking family vacations to Wyoming, Oregon, Yellowstone Park, Utah, and Montana. Coral continued living in Salmon into her adult years and became the proud mother of three children: Sandra Kay, Jeffery Scott and Lisa Jo. Coral spent many years working as a waitress employed by Wally and Beulah Richardson at Wally’s Café. She also spent two years waitressing at Prox Oil truck stop and two years at the Shady Nook (both in Salmon). Coral worked very hard throughout the years to support her family, and this was something that she took great pride in. Throughout her life Coral had many stories to share with her family and friends about her years spent waitressing in Salmon and all of the people that she met along the way. As a matter of fact, this would be where she would eventually meet the love of her life, Robert Andrew Petersen, of Frenchtown, Montana. On Tuesday, December 16, 1980, Coral and Bob were married, which led to Coral moving to Frenchtown, Montana. Bob and Coral would continue to live in Montana where they spent a wonderful 33 years of marriage, until Bob’s passing in April of 2014. After moving to Montana, Coral found herself with a lot of free time which allowed her to find her passion for oil painting classes, doll collecting and especially antiquing. On every Saturday morning you would find Coral making her way through the Missoula area hitting up all the yard sales in search of treasures, of which she found many. She also enjoyed going to auctions, and you can bet if she had her eye on something, there was no way she was going to be outbid. She also loved having her two spots in the antique mall in Missoula. Her passion for antiques and collectable’s would follow her throughout the rest of her life. Coral’s other passion in life was spending time with her kids and grandkids, and they loved her very much. Four years ago she became a great-grandmother of twin boys, Chip and Charlie, which renewed the sparkle in her eyes. She left a mark on every single one of them that will last an eternity. Coral is survived by her brother, Bill (Pauline) Brown of Middleton, Idaho; sister, Eve (Jay) Cole of Ucon, Idaho; her children, Sandra (Bob) Barrett of Salmon, Idaho, Jeff (Buffy) Walchli of Shelly, Idaho, Lisa Miller (Mike Mostad) of Missoula, Montana; her step-children, Debbie (George) Thomas of Milwaukie, Oregon, and Angela (Todd) Smith of Reno, Nevada. Coral was the proud grandmother of 13 grandchildren, Mandi Barrett, Erica Miller, Steven Miller, Kelcie Mostad, Shey Walchli-Bateman, Colton Walchli, Mike Thomas, Tara Miller, Tyler Thomas, Rachael Smith, Alyssa Smith, Andrew Petersen, and Steven Petersen; and seven great-grandchildren. Coral was preceded in death by her husband, Bob Petersen; father, Scott Brown; and mother, Doris Webb Brown. Graveside services were held at Salmon Cemetery on Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Many friends and family were in attendance.