H. Jean le Poer Trench Brown, WWII aviator
By Sally A. Downey
Inquirer Staff Writer
A memorial service for H. Jean le Poer Trench Brown, 89, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at All Saints' Episcopal Church, 9601 Frankford Ave., Northeast Philadelphia.
Mrs. Brown, a World War II pilot who operated a family farm and stores in Bucks County, died of heart failure Feb. 11 at Artman Lutheran Home in Ambler.
"Flying became an obsession with me in 1941," Mrs. Brown told Betty Stagg Turner when she was interviewed for
Out of the Blue and Into History, Turner's 2001 book about the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).
When Mrs. Brown learned that Piper Aircraft Co. was offering flying lessons to factory employees for $2.50 an hour, she moved from her home on Staten Island to the Piper plant in Lock Haven, Pa., and worked the night shift so she could fly during the day.
After earning her pilot's license and sufficient flight hours, she joined the WASP and ferried new airplanes to air bases all over the country.
In the summer of 1944, fewer piloting jobs became available to the WASP and Mrs. Brown resigned to be a Red Cross worker. She ran a "clubmobile" at U.S. Army Air Bases in England, where she met her future husband, Geoffrey Alan Brown.
She and her husband married in 1946, and they raised three children on Seven Oaks Farm in Chalfont. They operated the farm and a series of shops selling produce, eggs, nursery plants, artwork, handcrafted items, and general-store goods to their neighbors.
After she and her family left the farm in 1966, Mrs. Brown was an administrative assistant in the Pulmonary and Cystic Fibrosis Center at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. She later worked at Morris Arboretum.
A talented writer, she contributed articles to various publications including the Morris Arboretum newsletter and Green Scene, the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society's magazine.
After retiring at 65, Mrs. Brown volunteered at the Doylestown Public Library. She and her husband moved from Doylestown to the Artman Home last year.
In addition to her husband, Mrs. Brown is survived by a son, Geoffrey Jr.; daughters Pamela Benson and Allison.
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H. Jean le Poer Trench Brown, WWII aviator | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/27/2009
H. Jean le Poer Trench Brown, WWII aviator
