Robert sold the Ford garage in 1949 and continued to work in Bradley as the postmaster until his death on August 24, 1957. After her husband passed on, Bessie remained in Bradley until she moved to Bozeman, Montana in the mid-1960s to care for her grandchildren while her daughter, Verna, taught school. In the summers, when Verna had time off from her job, Bessie normally resided with her son, Robert, and his family in Minnetonka, Minnesota. During these years, Bessie frequently flew between destinations. She loved air travel and felt fortunate to have lived during, as she called it, the “horse and buggy days,” through the automobile era, and into the age of regular passenger flights. Bessie died …show more content…
Their family expanded with the arrival of a third child, James, in 1951. Although half a continent separated Audrey from her beloved Aunt Bessie, with frequent telephone conversations and regular trips, Bessie remained Audrey’s lifelong confident. Typically, Bessie traveled west to Portland for an extended visit with Audrey and her family in the wintertime, whereas the Grigg family traveled back to Bradley, South Dakota in the summer to visit relatives.
In addition to her emotional bond with Bessie, Audrey maintained close relationships with Robert and Bessie Brown’s four children. Vern and Teck worked their way through college in the 1950s. With limited employment opportunities back home in South Dakota, the sisters spent several of their summers with the Griggs in Portland where they could obtain work. Years later, after Vern and Teck settled down with teaching careers in Montana, they hosted Audrey, Ronald, and their children as they traveled between Portland and South Dakota. The two sisters frequently vacationed together during their summer break from teaching, which often brought them to Portland, where they enjoyed the hospitality of the Grigg