Warm, Witty, Wise and Kind. World Class Worrier, Extreme Knitter, Baker Extraordinaire, and Champion Bookworm. One of the Greatest Generation. Our Best Mom.

The youngest of three daughters, Lillian was born at home in Salt Lake City on December 19, 1925 to Danish immigrants Marie and Einar Brown. She imagined she was a Danish princess who had been kidnapped.

At age four, she survived spinal meningitis, learned to walk again, but lost the hearing in her right ear. To compensate, she developed a precise sixth sense for detecting trouble. Did we mention she had five children?

The Great Depression and World War II marked her childhood and years as a young adult. She grew up in a house on South Temple where hobos would often come to the back door and ask for food. A 1943 graduate of South High, she attended the University of Utah for one year. To help support her family and the war effort, she then worked at the VA hospital as a medical transcriptionist and secretary. (Her children especially liked her stories about taking notes during autopsies.)

“It’s fun to have fun but you have to know how. -- Dr. Seuss and Mom”

Then came the legendary love story: she met a cute patient, Herman Bauer, Jr. They were both in casts from ski mishaps at Alta. Lil married Herm November 19, 1950. (1950 was their supersecret password for everything.)

They wanted, and steadily grew, a big family; Julie (Laird), Mark (Tanya), Erik (Tricia), Laura (Greg), and Scott (Lori). Lil especially cherished her eleven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Herm’s career as a mineral geologist took the family on cross-country adventures. They lived and made friends in SLC, Utah; Wallace, Idaho; Ruth, Nevada; Chicago, Boston and Denver.

In addition to managing a rowdy household, Lil held a variety of part-time work and volunteer positions. She served as a deacon in the Mount Olympus Presbyterian Church, supported the patients of a family planning clinic, tested newborn hearing in a hospital, and used her skills as a bookkeeper and transcriptionist.

Lil and Herm chose to retire in Salt Lake City. They spent many happy days at their cabin on the Upper Provo River, where they hosted their family and many friends. Together they enjoyed picnics, cross-country skiing, traveling, gardening, and playing bridge. Lil was a long-time member of PEO (People Eat Onions) and several book clubs.

In addition to her family, Lil loved babies, dogs, books, yarn, birds, Christmas, her nieces and nephews, the mountains, klejner, and anything Danish. She did not like stupidity, snakes, driving in snow, exercise, or athletics.

August 22, 2024, marked The End. At a few months short of 99 years, Lillian was predeceased by . . . just about everyone. She lived the last three years of her life without her beloved Herm and did so with dignity and strength. Although her short-term memory was compromised, her sense of humor continued to sparkle. (Knit, Grandma, knit!)

A special note of gratitude to her grandsons, Nicholas and Daniel Bauer, her committed caregivers, who made it possible for her to live in her own home during the final chapters of her life.