JEANNIE: 54 years and 10 days not long enough

This is a love story (often humorous) of the life of Barbara Jean "Jeannie" (Ratliff) Brown from the time she met Jim at the University of North Dakota on October 7, 1960, until she died in Bakersfield, California, on October 17, 2014.

A day late for her wedding, Jeannie worked as an RN while husband Jim finished law school and served in the army during the Vietnam war. Then she experienced a brush with death after the birth of her first child, daughter Kelly, and suffered post partum depression. Two children later, Jeannie's family was complete.

Jeannie became an accomplished self-taught artist working with oil on canvas. She was also an avid golfer, fisherwoman, and tennis player, most of which she did with Jim. They played golf together in eleven states plus several courses in Canada, fished wherever they could find open water or flowing streams, and played tennis mostly in Bakersfield or Twin Lakes Village, Idaho.

After her children were in school, Jeannie settled in as the wife of a trial lawyer, accompanying Jim to places as far-flung as Hawaii and London. She served as his unofficial trial-consultant, cheer-leader, and consoler.

An aborted abortion led to the birth of Jeannie's first grandchild, a daughter born to her unmarried second daughter, Brandy, who later that year married the baby's father. Three grandsons followed to round out this wonderful family.

Jeannie survived ovarian and breast cancer before losing daughter Kelly--the mother of 6 and 9-year-old boys--to a sudden and mysterious infection. Colon cancer followed by liver cancer took Jeannie's life at age 73, three months and 27 days after she and Jim celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They renewed their wedding vows a few days before Jeannie's passing.