Mariah Jennifer Brown

Mary (Mariah) Jennifer Barton Brown left this earth and is now prancing in the heavens, gracefully performing inverted pigeons, star inversions and other impressive aerial yoga tricks. Mary was born on July 11, 1955, in Dalhousie, a Provence of New Brunswick, Canada, to Hugh John and Margaret Anne (Gibson) Barton. Her parents were overjoyed to welcome their 4th child, yet another daughter, knowing that they would need to try again for a son.

Mariah is survived by the lights of her life: her husband, Martin (Marty) Dean Brown; her son Peter Christian (Kim) and their twin daughters, Makena Kay & Makayla Marie Hansen; her daughter Emma Julia Anne Hulda (Dirk) and their four sons, Andrew Anthony, Mark Jan, Daniel Lukas and Jonathan Samuel Meuleman; her siblings Susan (Robert) Tait, Jane Barton (Chris Hanlon), Virginia Barton (Bruce Creba), and Peter John (Lisa) Barton. Mariah is further survived by her bonus children and grands, Kalynn Marie (Joseph) Geddes and their children Kelsea, Rylan, Donovan, Corbin and Boden; Chelsea Lynn (Keith) Weihs and their children Alex and Alyssa (a combined total of 13 grands); and Evan Dean (Andrea) Brown; along with numerous nieces and nephews.

Mary was born good-natured and had an idyllic childhood, spending two months of every year at her family’s cherished cabin in the Provence of Quebec, close to Gatineau City. In addition to a main cabin, she and her siblings each had their own individual detached cabin. There they swam, water skied, canoed, paddle boarded, as well as played cards, cribbage and all manner of games. One of young Mary’s claims to fame during her middle school years was winning 1st Place in her City’s gymnastic competition– a time she claims to have been pudgy.

As a young adult, Mary went on vacation to the island of Maui and loved it so much that she remained there for 11 years. During those years, she changed her name from a hallowed Mary to a zesty Mariah; married, and had her two children, Peter in 1978 and Emma in 1982. Although money was tight in the early years, she always made her home attractive and comfortable, whether in a dwelling with a shingled roof, or even for a brief time, in a teepee. If only we had the pictures! Imagine a tent of 10 square feet then, to her spacious home of 3600 square feet today. Mariah’s Hawaiian days also included a brief and fun stint singing harmony in an a cappella group called the Love Notes.

In 1985, Mariah and her children moved to Sacramento where she resumed her education to become a paralegal. Her first job as a paralegal was with a civil defense law firm in downtown Sacramento and she loved it.

After falling head over heels for Marty, Mariah and he married and joined their families together in 1996. Within a few years, she went into business with Marty and began working at Excel Photographers. Religion was important to both Mariah and Marty. They wanted to belong to a church and Mariah wanted to be part of the choir. However, after being kicked out of two church choirs for wiggling around too much, Mariah got a license place frame that read: “I’m too sexy for my church” and settled for having a private relationship with God where she could wiggle and spin about to her heart’s content.

Always focused and hard working, Mariah spent her adult years working very diligently at her health. She worked at strength training, yoga, and aerial yoga. Daily, she grew different types of sprouts, having four large jars in a steady rotation. Twice a week, she made her own sour dough bread, beautifully presented and exceptional in taste. Did you know that there was such a thing as a dried bean club? More specifically, the Rancho Gordo Bean Club? Mariah was one of its 26,000 members, routinely receiving shipments of unique heirloom beans throughout the year. It might be time for another name change. Maybe Hulda for her Grandmother?

Throughout Mariah’s years in Sacramento, she loved singing harmony and for roughly 20 years, she enjoyed singing in an a cappella quintet called Cherry Fizz. Later, she sang for many more years in another reconfigured quintet called Singer Citizens. For the last few years of her life, and as recently as February, during some very sick days, she enjoyed singing harmony in a final quartet.

Has anyone ever used bad grammar around Mariah? Even when she was too weak to sit up, she had the strength to make grammatical corrections. Marty warned her if she kept it up, no one would visit. She countered saying, “It’s wrong.” She was recently asked if Bob Dylan should have written, Lie Lady Lie, Lie Across My Big Brass Bed? Her answer was an emphatic, Yes, he should have!

Mariah was always well mannered and yet, she could be very direct. If a problem needed to be addressed, she faced it head on. Once, an individual had the worst smell ever and she simply put on a fan aimed his way and opened the door to flush the room out.

There was never a time that Mariah turned down a request for performance or an acrobatic trick. She would gladly stand on her head, put on any costume and do any routine asked of her. She had style and grace. Years ago, she was asked to sashay about in performance and she sportingly claimed, I don’t have a bashful bone in my body.

Friendship was important to Mariah. She and her girlfriends got together regularly for exercise, glamping and Marty’s home-cooked brunches. She forged bonds with many friends, which was apparent in her final days. There was no shortage of visitors and the kitchen’s countertop was often filled with vases of flowers.

Her children and grandchildren were her joy. She regularly visited Peter and Emma’s households to spend time with them and her “Grands!” She didn’t watch the kids at play; she led them in play, showing them a very impressive Grandma, playing games and twirling on the monkey bars!

Over the last few years, she began scaling back how many days she worked at Excel Photographers. Instead of kicking up her feet, she earned her certification as a personal trainer in 2023. And only last Spring, in 2024, she earned her aerial yoga instructor’s certification. During 2023/4 right before her diagnosis, Mariah was researching and working on opening her own aerial yoga studio.

Mariah loved life and lived it passionately. She was not only beautiful, but she was fun to be around. She had a smile about a mile wide and was the life of a gathering. She loved the mini-forest across the street from her home. It was filled with birds and she delighted in walking it with her beloved dog, Hazel, listening for and identifying its birds. She set up feeders in her own back yard and took routine comfort in watching the birds from her sickbed.